£ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 













i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



i 



THE 



Bier'* 9iesieUnt 

IN THE 

ART OF DYING 
WOOL AND WOOLLEN GOODS. 

EXTRACTED FROM THE PHILOSOPHICAL A ^0 

CHYMICAL WORKS OF THOSE MOST 

EMINENT AUTHORS 

FERGUSON, DUFAY, HELLOT, GEOFFERY* 
COLBERT; 

.AND THAT REPUTABLE FRENCH DIER 

MONS. DE JULIENNE. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 

WITH ADDITIONS AND PRACTICAL 
EXPERIMENTS. 



BY JAMES HAIGH 

:ati car and Muslim due, ii 




PHILADELPHIA. 

PRINTED AND SOLD BY JAMES HUMPHREY 
Corner of Second and Walnut-streets, 

1810. 

m m 



PK^FACfi. 



THERE are very few arts so expensive 
as that of dieing; and although those 
principal commodities, clothing and furni- 
ture, receive their chief improvement and 
value therefrom, it is nevertheless very far 
from being brought ta perfection. A long 
practice, sound judgment, and great atten- 
tion, will form a good and expert dier. Ma- 
ny diers can work with success in a number of 
colours only which depend on each other, and 
are entirely ignorant of the rest, or have but a 
very imperfect idea of them. 

A philosopher, who studies the art of 
dieing, is in some measure astonished at the 
multiplicity of new objects which it affords y 
every step presents new difficulties and ob- 
scurities, without hopes of any instruction 
from the common workmen, who seldom 
know more than facts and custom. Their 
manner of explaining themselves, and theu: 
common terms, only afford more darkness^ 



IT PREFACE. 



which the uncommon and often useless cir- 
cumstances of their proceedings render more 
obscure. 

Before we enter into the particulars of die- 
ing wool, it is necessary to give an idea of the 
primary colours, or rather of those which bear 
this name by the artist ; for it will appear by 
reading the celebrated works of Sir Isaac 
Newton on Light and Colours, that they bear 
no affinity with those which the Philosophers 
call by that name. They are thus named by 
the workmen, because by the nature of the in- 
ingredients of which they are composed, they 
are the basis from whence all others are de- 
rived. This division of colours, and the idea 
which I intend to givebf them, are also com-* 
monto the different kinds of dieing. 

The five primary colours are blue, red, yel- 
low, brown and black. Each of these can 
furnish a great number of shades, from the 
lightest to the darkest ; and from the combina- 
tion of two or more of these different shades, 
arise all the colours in nature. Colours are 
often darkened* or made light, or considerably 
changed, by ingredients that have no colour 
in themselves ; such are the acid, the alkalis, 
and the neutral salts, lime, urine, arsenic, 
alum, and some others ; and in the greatest 
part of dies* the wool and woollen goods a*e 



PREFACE. 



prepared with some of these ingredients which 
of themselves give little or no colour. It may 
easily be conceived what an infinite variety 
must arise from the mixture of these different 
matters, or even from the manner of using 
them ; and what attention must be given to 
the minutest circumstances, so as perfectly to 
succeed in an art so complicated, and in 
which there are many difficulties, 

It ' rs not needful to be very particular in 
describing the utensils of a die-house, as- they' 
are commonly known ; this work being de- 
signed for the experienced dier. A die-house 
should, however, be erected on a spacious 
plan, roofed over, but admitting a good lights 
and as nigh as possible to a running water* 
which is very necessary, either to prepare the. 
• wool before it is died, or to wash it afterwards. 
The coppers should be set at the distance of 
eight or ten feet, and two or more vats for 
the blue, according to the quantity of work! 
that is to be carried on. 

The most important point in dieing the 
primitive blue is to set the vat properly at 
work, and conduct her till she is in a state to 
yield her blue. The size of the woad vat h 
not fixed, as it depends upon necessity or plea- 
sure. A vat containing 9 hogshead, or half 
that quantity, has often been used with siae- 

A:2- 



VI PREFACE. 

cess , but then they must be prevented by 
some means from cooling too suddenly, other- 
wise these small vats will fail. 

Another kind of vat it prepared for blue : 
this is called the indigo vat, because it is the 
indigo alone that gives it the colour. Those 
that use the woad vat do not commonly use 
the indigo one. 

There are two methods of dieing wool of 
any colour ; the one is called dieing in the 
great, the other in the lesser die. The first 
is done by means of drugs or ingredients 
that procure a lasting die, resist the action 
of the air and sun, and are not easily stained 
by sharp or corrosive liquors. The contrary 
happens to colours of the lesser die. The 
air fades them in a short time, more parti- 
cularly if exposed to the sun y most liquors 
stain them, so as to make them lose their 
first colour. It is extraordinary that, as there 
is a methed of making all kinds of colours 
by the great die^theuseof the lesser should 
be tolerated ; but three reasons make it 
difficult, if not impossible, to prevent this 
practice. 

1st, The work is much easier. Most co- 
lours and shades which give the greatest 
trouble ii? the great, are easily carried on m 
the lessor die. 



PREFACE, VII 

2d, Most colours in the lesser are more 
bright and lively than those of the great. 

3d, For this reason, which carries more 
weight, the lesser die is carried on much 
cheaper than the great. This is sufficient to 
determine some men to do all in their power 
to carry it on in preference to the othen 
Hence it is that the true knowledge of 
chymistry, to which the art of dicing owes 
its origin, is of so much use. 

In may be observed, that all lasting colours 
are called colours of the great, and the others 
of the lesser die. Sometimes the first are- 
called fine, and the latter false colours ; but 
these expressions are equivocal, for the fine' 
are sometimes confounded with the high 
colours, which are those in whose composi- 
tion cochineal enters ; therefore, to avoid all 
obscurity, I shall call the first colours of the: 
great, and the latter colours of the lesser die. 

Experiments, (which are the best guides in 
natural philosophy as well as arts) plainly 
shew, that the difference of colours, accord- 
ing to the foregoing distinction, partly de- 
pends on the preparation of the subject that 
is to be died, and partly on the choice of the 
ingredients which are afterwards used to give 
it the colour. I therefore think it may be 



VIII PREFACE. 



laid down as a general principle, that all the in- 
visible process of dieing consists in dilating the 
pores of the body that is to be died,, and depo- 
siting therein particles of a foreign matter, 
which are to be detained by a kind of cement 
which prevents the sun or rain from changing 
them. To make choice of the colouring par- 
ticles of such a durability that they may be 
retained, and sufficiently set in the pores of 
the subject opened by the heat of boiling wa- 
ter, then contracted by the cold; and after- 
wards plaistered over with a kind of cement 
left behind with the salt used for iheir prepa- 
ration, that the pores of the wool or woollen 
stuffought to be cleansed, enlarged, cemented 
and then contracted, that the colouring atom 
may be contained in a lasting manner. 

Experiments also shew that there is n$ 
colouring ingredient belonging to the great 
die which has not more or less an astringent 
and precipitant quality. That this is suffi- 
cient to separate the earth of the alum ; this 
earth, joined to the colouring- atoms, forms a 
kind of lacque, similar to that used by the 
painters, but infinitely finer. That in bright 
colours, such as scarlet, where alum cannot 
be used, another body must be substituted to 
supply the colouring atoms (block- tin gives 



PREFACE. IX 

this basis to the scarlet die.) When all these 
small atoms of earthy coloured lacque have in- 
sinuated themselves into the pores of the 
subject that is dilated, the cement which the 
tartar leaves behind serves to masticate these 
atoms y and lastly, the contracting of the 
pores, caused by the cold, serves to retain 
them. 

It is certain that the colours of the false 
die have that defect only because the sub- 
ject is not sufficiently prepared ; so that the 
colouring particles being only deposited on 
its plain surface, it is impossible but the least 
action of the air or sun must deprive them of 
part, if not of the whole. If ^ method was 
discovered to give to the colouring parts of 
dieing woods, the necessary astriction which; 
they recjuire, and if the wooFat the same time 
was prepared to receive them, (as it is the red 
of madder) I am convinced, by thirty experi- 
ments, that these woods might be made as 
useful in the great, as they have hitherto been 
in the lesser die. 

What I have said shall be applied in the 
sequel of this treatise,, where I shall shew 
what engaged me to use them as general 
principles. 

I should have been glad to have seen a 
work of this sort, (knowing the great need 



3fc PREFACE, 

there is of a chymical understanding of this 
art) signed by the name of some person of 
distinction, to have given it abetter face syet, 
in defect of that, I was prevailed upon to un- 
dertake the tedious task. I dare not flatter 
myself to have brought it to its last perfec- 
tion, as arts daily improve, and this in particu- 
lar ; but I hope some acknowledgment will 
be due to me for bringing, this matter a little 
further out of that obscurity in which it has 
laid, and for assisting the diers in making dis- 
coveries to help to perfect this most useful art* 
I shall now proceed to examine the five 
primary colours above mentioned, and give 
the different methods of preparing them after- 
$ie most solid and permanent manner. 

JAMES HAIGH*. 



fNTRODU€TK)N. 



THE materials of which cloths are made, 
for the most part are naturally of dull 
and gloomy colours. Garments would conse- 
quently have had a disagreeable uniformity, 
if this art had not beenfound out to remedy it, 
and vary their shades. The accidental bruis- 
ing of fruits or herbs, the effect of rain upon 
certain earths and minerals might suggest the 
first hint of the art of dieing, and of the mate- 
rials proper for it. Every climate furnishes 
man with ferruginous earths, with boles of 
all colours, with saline and vegetable materials 
for this art. The difficulty must have been 
to find the art of applying them. But how 
many trials and essays must have i)een made, 
before they found out the most proper me- 
thods of applying them to stuffs, so as to stain 
them with beautiful and lasting colours ? In 
this consists the principal excellence of the 
dier's art, one of the most ingenious and 4if- 
ffieult which we know. 



:t:il INTRODUCTION.. 

Dieing is performed by means of limes, 
salts, waters, leys, fermentations, macera- 
tions, &c. It is certain that #ieing is very 
ancient. The Chinese pretend that they owe 
the discovery of it to Hoan-ti, one of their 
first sovereigns. 

One of the most agreeable effects of the 
art of dieing, is the diversifying the colours of 
stuffs. There are two ways by which this 
agreeable variety is produced, either by nee- 
dle-work with threads of different colours, on 
an uniform ground, or by making use of yarn 
of different colours in the weaving. 

The first of these inventions is attributed 
to the Phrygians, a very ancient nation ; the 
last to the Babylonians. Many things in- 
-line us to think that these arts were known 
even in the times of which we are now treat- 
ing. The great progress these arts had made 
in the days of Moses., supposes that they had 
been discovered long before. It appears to 
me certain, then, that the arts of embroidery 
or weaving stuffs of various colours were in- 
vented in the ages we are now upon. But I 
shall not insist on the manner in which they 
were then practised, as I can say nothing sa- 
tisfactory upon that subject. 

Another art nearly related to that of dieing* 
is that of cleaning and whitening garments* 



INTRODUCTION. XIII 

garments when they have been stained and 
sullied. Water alone is not sufficient for this. 
We must communicate to it by means of pow- 
ders, ashes, &c. that detersive quality which 
is necessary to extract the stains which 
they have contracted. The ancients knew 
nothing of soap, but supplied the want of it 
by various means. Job speaks of washing 
his garments in a pit with the herb borith. 
This passage shows that the method of clean- 
ing garments in these ages, was by throwing 
them into a pit full of water, impregnated 
with some kind of ashes ; a method which 
seems to have been very universal in these 
first times. Homer describes Nausicaa and 
her companions washing their garments, by 
treading them with thoir fe^t in a pit. 

With rcpect to the herb which Job calls 
borith, I imagine it is salworth. This plant 
is very common in Syria, Judea, Egpyt, and 
Arabia. They burn it, and pour water upon 
the ashes. This water becomes impregna- 
ted with a very strong lixivial salt proper for 
taking stains or impurities out of wool or 
cloth. 

The Greeks and Romans used several 
kinds of earths and plants instead of soap. 
The savages of America make a kind of soap- 
water of certain fruits, with which they wash, 

C 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

their cotton-beds and other stuffs. In Ice- 
land the women make a ley of ashes and urine. 
The Persians employ boles and mark. In 
many countries they find earths, which, dis- 
solved in water, have the property of cleaning 
and whitening cloth and linen. All these 
methods might perhaps be practiced in the 
primitive ages. The necessities of all man- 
kind are much the same, and all climates pre- 
sent them with nearly the same resources. 
It is the art of applying them, which distin- 
guishes polite and civilized nations from sava- 
ges and barbarians* 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 



OF THE ART OF DIEING WOOL AND WOOLLEH 
STUFFS, 

CHAPTER I. 

Of Blue ,....,...., £5 

CHAPTER II. 

Of the Garden- Woad or Pastel-Vat .- # . 29 

The vat set to work . . . . . . . , r 30 

Marks how to conduct a Vat regularly ... 33 

The opening of the Vat . ... . . . 37 

CHAPTER III. 

Of the Field Woad- Vat . . . . . . . 48 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Indigo-Vat ......... 52 

Process of making the Indigo in America . . 52 
Method of working the Indigo- Vat ? ... 54* 

CHAPTER v. 

The cold Vat with Urine . „ , * \ . . 59 



XVI 



CONTENTS. 



The hot Vat with Urine ....... 61 



Re-heating of the Vat with Urine 

CHAPTER VI. 

Of the cold Indigo-Vat without Urine 
Water of Old Iron ...... 



64 



67 
68 



CHAPTER VII. 

• Of the Method of dying Blue 



70 



The manufacturing of Pastel, or Garden Woad 

in France 98 

Powder of Woad . . .101 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Of Red 



104 



CHAPTER IX. 

Of scarlet of Grain 

Preparation of the wool for scarlet of Grain 
Liquor for the Kerrnes . . „ . 



105 

107 

ib. 



CHAPTER X. 

Of Flame-coloured Scarlet . . * 
Composition for Scarlet .... 
Water for the Preparation of Scarlet 
Reddening . . . . ^ * . 
Experiments on Cochineal Liquor * 
Violet without Blue * . . . » 



119 
121 
124 
126 
143 
144 



.CHAPTER XI, 

Of Crimson . , * . ■ ' •• . 
Languedoc Crimson . . . « 
Natural Crimson in Grain « , 



145 
149 
151 



CONTENTS. XVH 

CHAPTER XII. 

Scarlet of Gum Lacque , . . . \ . ; 152 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Of the Coccus Pblonicus, a colouring Insect . 156 



CHAPTER XIV, 




Of the Red of Madder . . 


. . 158- 


Purple with Madder without Blue . * 


. . 168 


CHAPTER XV. 




Of Yellow ......... 


- , 170 


CHAPTER XVI, 




Of Brown ......... 


, , 17S- 


CHAPTER XVII. 




Of Black ......... 


. . 184' 


Remarks on Black Die . , > . f 


, : -. 136 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Of the Mixture of Blue and Red . f , . 181 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Of the Mixture of Blue and Yellow^ . . . , 19 1 

CHAPTER XX. 

Of the Mixture of Blue and Brown . ; . . 196 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Of the Mixture of Blue and Black . . . .. 197 

A 2,- 



XVIII CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Of the Mixture of Red and Yellow „ . , 198 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Of the Mixture of Red and Brown .... 201 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Of the Mixture of Yellow and Brown * . 202 

CHAPTER XXV, 

Of the Mixture of Brown and Black . .. t 203 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Of the Mixture of the primitive Colours taken 
three by three . . . . . . . * . 20£ 

Variety of Carnation Colours .. . . . . 201 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Of the Manner of mixing Wool of different 
Colours, for cloth, or mixed Colours, (Co- 
lours mixed in the Loom.) ...... * 210 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Of the method of preparing the Pattern Felts^or 
Mixture for an Essay .. . .... «■ . 212 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Of Polish Red . , « . . . .. . . .; 215 



CONTENTS, XXX 



PART II. 



OF THE LESSER DIE> 

if 

CHAPTER I. 

OF the dieing of Wool by the Lesser Die ., . 21? 

CHAPTER II. 

Of the dieing of Flock or Goat's Hair . . . 220 
Sulphuring of Wool ........ 227 

The Theory of the Dissolution of Flock . . 22$ 

CHAPTER III. 

Of the Manner of using Archil ..... 231 
Bastard scarlet by Archil, ^ . * . . . 234 

CHAPTER IV. 

Of Logwood or Campeachy ... » .' i . . 237 
The Raven Grey ....<*.... 241 

CHAPTER V. 

Of Saxon Blue and Green . *. i r .■ i 242 

Blue on Cloth, Stuff*, or Yara ib, 

Chymic for Green . . *...., 243 

chapter VI. 
Of Brazil Wood ,„....„.>. 245 

CHAPTER VII. 

Of Fustic* . . i ~ * . . . • . > > , r 249* 



XX CONTENTS., 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Of Roucou . 254 

CHAPTER IX, 

Of the Grains of Avignon . . . . . .^ 252 

CHAPTER X, 

Of Turmeric .......... 253 

CHAPTER XI. 

Of Silver Grey . . 255" 

Another excellent Silver Die . . . . . 256 
Instructions on the proof of dyed Wool and 

Woollen Stuffs , . 256" 



PART III. 

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES. 
CHAPTER I. 

Of Flowers - - ~ - • 26f 

Of Blue Flowers - - - ~ ---..- 268 
Of Red and Yellow Flowers - - - - - 270 
Of White Flowers ------..-273 

CHAPTER II. 

Of Fruits + 1 - - 273 

CHAPTER III. 

Of Leaves .«.».-•••-- 275 



CONTENTS* XXI 

CHAPTER IV. 

Mr. Lewis's History of Madder, and Manner 
of treating it ......... 28 1 

CHAPTER v. 

Of Fustic --- ---285 

CHAPTER VI. 

Of Nephritic Wood - - - - . - - 286 

CHAPTER VII. 

Mr. Ferguson's History of Logwood as a 
Colouring Drug .----»*- 287 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Process of Prussian Blue - - - *'' - 289 

CHAPTER IX. 

Of Alkanet Root _-- 292 

CHAPTER X. 

OfAlum - - ~ - - 294 

CHAPTER XI. 

Chymical History of Saunders, and its Dif- 
ference from other Red- Woods - - - - 295 

CHAPTER XIJ. 

Of Verdigrise -,_--...>..-.. %9% 



THE 



Bto's assistant 



IN THE 



ART OF DYING, 



THE 



DXER'S ASSISTANT. 
PART I. 



CHAPTER L 



OF BLUE. 



WOOL and woollen stuffs of all kinds, are, 
died blue without any other preparation 
than wetting them well in lukewarm water, 
squeezing them well afterwards, or letting them 
drain : this precaution is necessary, that the co- 
lour may the more easily insinuate itself into the 
body of the wool, that it may be equally dis- 
persed throughout •, nor is this to be omitted 
in any kind of colours, whether the subject be 
wool or cloth. 

As to wool in the fleece,, which is used in ma- 
nufacturing cloth, as well the mixt as other 
sorts, and which they are^ obliged to dye before 

C 



26* 

they are spun, they are prepared in another 
manner, viz. they are scoured, and thereby di- 
vested of the natural fat they had when on the 
body of the -animal*;. As this operation is pro- 
perly the Dier's, and is indispensable in wool 
which is to be died before it is spun, let the 
colour be what -it will, 1 shall give the proper 
process. 

This operation is not every where alike, but 
this is the method followed in the manufactory 
of Audly in Normandy, where cloths are most 
beautifully manufactured. 

A copper containing twenty pails is used for 
this purpose; they put twelve pai^s of water, 
and four of urine, (which is generally ferment- 
ed), the copper is heated, and when the liquor is 
so hot as to bear the hand without scalding, 
ten or twelve pounds of wool, that still con- 
tains its natural fat, are put in and left in the 
copper about a quarter of an hour, stirring from 
time to time with sticks; it is then taken out 
and put to drain on a scray ; from thence it is 
carried in a large square basket, and placed in 
running water, two men stirring it to and fro 
for a considerable time with long poles, till it 
is entirely cleansed of its fat; then it is taken 
out and placed in a basket to drain : while this 
wool is- thus- preparing, a like quantity may be 
put into the copper, and thus proceed till the 
whole is scoured, if the liquor is too much wast- 
ed, fresh is to be added, made up of one part 

* The natural fat adhering to the wool preserves it in the 
warehouse, and also from moths. 



2 7 

urine and three parts water. They generally 
scour a bale of wool at once; if it weighed 
2501b. in the fat, it generally loses 6olb. in 
scouring •, but this diminution of weight varies 
in proportion to the wool being more or less 
scoured, and in proportion to the more or less 
fat contained therein. Too much attention 
qannot be paid to the scouring, as it is thereby 
better disposed for the reception of the dye. 

The fat, which is an oily transudation, and 
slightly partaking of the quality of urine retain- 
ed by the fleece, which is too thick to let it out, 
is soluble in water, consequently, as water alone 
could not separate it, a fourth part of urine is 
put into the copper, which must have been kept 
some days, in order to separate its volatile salts 
by fermentation ; (1 mean that it is necessary 
this urine should begin to acquire a strong 
smell) ; this volatile salt, being an alkali, forms 
with the fat a kind of soap, which is always the 
result of all oils and alkalis whatsoever mixed 
together. As soon as soap is formed by the 
combination of these two principles, it becomes 
soluble in water, and is consequently easily car- 
ried off. A proof that a true soap has been 
formed in this operation, is, that the water which 
carries it away, whitens as long as any fat is 
separated from the wool : if there was a suffi- 
cient quantity of fermented /urine in the copper, 
the wool will be well scoured ; if it was not, 
all the fat would not be changed into soap, and 
consequently the wool will remain greasy. The 
same operation might be performed with fixed 



28' 

alkalis, as with the lee of pot-ash or pearl-ashes: 
but as this lee would not only come dearer than 
urine, it might also damage the wool, if the 
exact proportion was not applied. I am con- 
vinced by several experiments, that these caus- 
tic salts do easily destroy ail animal substances, 
as wool, ilk, &c. 

I beg the reader may take notice, that though 
in the sequel I do not mention this operation of 
scouring, it is nevertheless necessary for all 
wool that is to be died before it is spun, as also 
that it is necessary to wet those that are spun, 
and stuffs of ail kinds, that the colour may be 
the more equally diffused throughout. 

Of the five primary colours mentioned in the 
preface, two of them require a preparation 
given by noncolouring ingredients, which, by 
the acidity and fineness of their earth, dispose 
the pores of the wool to receive the colour. This 
is called the preparation; it varies according to 
the nature of shades and colours: the red, the 
yellow, and the colours derived from them 
must be so treated ; black must have a prepa- 
ration peculiar to itself; blue and brown re- 
quire none; it is sufficient that the wool be 
thoroughly scoured and wetted ; and even for 
blue, it suffices to dip it into the vat, stirring 
it well, and letting it remain, more or less, ac- 
cording as the ground of the colour is wanted. 
For this reason, and also that many colours 
previously require a blue shade to be given to 
the wool, I shall begin with it, and give there- 
on the most exact rules in my power. It is an 



^9 

easy matter to dye wool blue, when the vat is 
once prepared, but it is not so easy to prepare 
the vat, which is the most difficult part of the 
Dier's art. In all the other processes, it is suf- 
ficient to follow the simple operations transmit- 
ted from masters to apprentices. Three ingre- 
dients are used in the blue die, viz. garden- 
woad or pastel, the woad, and the indigo. I 
shall give the preparation of each, beginning 
with the garden- woad. 



CHAPTER II. 



OF THE GARDEN-WOAD, OR PASTEL-WOAD. 

THE garden-woad is a plant cultivated in 
many parts of Holland and France, and 
might be in England or Ireland, to the great 
advantage of the husbandman ; it is made up 
in bales, generally weighing from one hundred 
and fifty pounds to two hundred; ic resembles 
little clods of dryed earth, interwoven with the 
fibres of plants; it is gathered at a proper sea- 
son, and laid up to rot, and then made into 
small Halls to dry. Several circumstances are 
to be observed in this preparation ; on this you 
may see the regulations of Mons. Colbert on 
Dies; the best prepared comes from the dio- 
cese of Alby in France. 

C 2 



The Vat set to work. 

A copper as near as possible to the vat is fil- 
led with water that has stood for some time, or, 
if such water is not at hand, a handful of 
Dior's woad or hay is added to the water, with 
eight pounds of crust of fat madder. If the old 
liquor from a vat that has been used in dieing 
froai madder can be procured, it will save the 
madder, and produce a better effect. 

The copper being filled, and the fire lighted 
about three in the morning, it must boil an 
hour and a quarter, (some diers boil it from 
two hours and a half to three); it is then con- 
veyed by a spout into the woad vat, in which 
has been previously put a peck of wheaten 
bran, Whilst the boiling liquor is emptying 
into the vat, the balls of woad must be put 
one after another into the vat, that they may 
be the easier broken, raked and stirred; this 
is to be continued till all the dot liquor from 
the copper is run into the vat, which, when lit- 
tle more than half full, must be covered with 
cloths somewhat larger than its circumference, 
so that it may be c&vered as close as possible, 
and left in this state for four hours. Then it 
must be aired, that is, uncovered to be raked, 
and fresh air let in it; and to each bale of woad, 
a good measure of ware flung in ; this is a con- 
cealed name for lime that has been slacked. 
This measure is a kind of wooden shovel, 
which serves to measure the lime gro c sly $ it is 
five inches broad and three inches and a half 



3 1 

long, containing near a good handful ; the 
lime being scattered in, and the vat well 
raked, it must be again covered, leaving a lit- 
tle space of about four fingers open, to let in 
air. Four hours after, she must be raked, 
without serving her with lime ; the cover is then 
put on, leaving, as before, anbpening for the 
air; in this manner she must be let to stand 
for two- or three hours. Then she may be 
raked well again, if she is not yet come to 
/work ; that is, if she does not cast blue at her 
surface, and that she works or ferments still, 
which may be known by raking and plunging 
with the flat of the rake in the vat ; being well 
raked, she is to remain still for one hour and a 
half more, carefully observing whether she casts 
blue. She is then to be served with water, and 
the quantity of indigo judged necessary is to be 
put in : it is commonly used in a liquid state* 
the full of a dye-house kettle for each. bale of 
woad ; the vat being filled within six finger- 
breadths of her brim, is to be raked and co- 
vered as before ; an hour after filling her with 
water, she must be served with lime, viz. two 
measures of lime for eachfbale of woad, giving 
more or less according to the quality of the 
woad, and what may be judged it will spend 
or take of lime. 

1 hope the reader will excuse my plainness; 
this treatise being wrote for the dier, 1 must 
speak the language he is used to 3 the philoso- 
pher will easily substitute proper terms, which 
perhaps the workman would not understand* 



There are kinds of woad readier prepared thar* 
others, so that general and precise rules can- 
not be given on this head. It must also be re- 
marked, that the lime is not to be put into the 
vat till she has been well raked. 

The vat being a^ain covered, three hours 
after a pattern must be put in, and kept en- 
tirely covered for an hour-; it is then taken out 
to judge if she be fit to work. If she is, the 
pattern must come out green, and on being ex- 
posed a minute to the air, acquire a blue co- 
lour. If the vat gives a good green to the pat- 
tern, she must be raked, served with one or 
two measures of lime, and covered. 

Three hours after, she must be raked, and 
served with what lime may be judged neces- 
sary ; she is then to be covered, and one hour 
and a half after, the vat being pitched or set- 
tled, a pattern is put in, which must remain 
an hour to see the effects of the woad. If the 
pattern is of a fine green, and that it turns to a 
deep blue in the air, another must be dipt in to 
be certain of the effect of the vat. If this pat- 
tern is deep enough in colour, let the vat be 
filled up with hot water, or if at hand, with old 
liquor of madder, and rake her well. Should 
the vat still want lime, serve her with such a 
quantity as you may judge sufficient by the 
smell and handling. This done, she must be 
again covered, and one hour after put in your 
stuffs, and make your overture. This is the 
term used for the first working of wool or stuffs 
in a new vat. 



33 



Marks by which you may know how to conduct 
a Vat regularly. 

A vat is fit to work when the grounds are of 
a green brown, when it changes, ,on its being 
taken out of the vat, when the flurry is of a 
fine Turkish or deep blue, and when the pat- 
tern, which has been dipt in it for an hour, 
comes out of a fine deep grass green. When 
shr is fit to work, the bever has a good appear- 
ance, clear and reddish, and the drops and 
edges that are formed under the rake in lifting 
up the bever are brown. Examining the ap- 
pearance of the bever, is lifting up the liquor 
with the hand or rake, to see what colour the 
liquor of the vat has under its surface. The 
sediment or grounds must change colour (as 
has been already observed) at being taken out 
of the bever,, and must grow brown by being 
exposed to the external air. The bever or li- 
quor muy feel neither too rough nor too 
greasy, and must not smell either of lime or 
lee. These are the distinguishing marks of a 
vat that is fit to work. 

How to know when a Vat is cracked by too great 
or too small a quantity of Lime ; extremes 
which must be avoided. 

When more lime has been put in than was 
sufficient'for the woad, it is easily perceived by 
dipping in a pattern, which, instead of turning 
to a beautiful grass green, is only daubed with 



34 

a steely green. The grounds do not change, 
the vat gives scarcely any flurry, and the bever 
has a strong odour of quick lime, or its lees. 

This error is rectified by thinning the vat, 
in which the diers differ; some use tartar, 
others bran, of which they throw a bushel into 
the vat, more or less in proportion to the quan- 
tity of lime used, others a pail of urine. In 
some places a large iron chafing dish is made 
use of, long enough to reach from the ground 
to the top of the vat, this chafing-dish or fur- 
nace has a grate at a foot distance from its bot- 
tom, and a funnel coming from under this 
grate, and ascending to the top of the chafing- 
dish, which is to give air to, and kindle the 
coals which are placed on the grate. This fur- 
nace is sunk in the vat, near to the surface of 
the grounds, so as not to touch them, and is 
fastened with iron bars to prevent its rising. 
By this method the lime is raised to the surface 
of the liquor, which gives an opportunity to 
take off with a sieve what is thought superflu- 
ous ; but when this is taken our/ the necessary 
quantity of ware must be carefully restored to 
the vat. Others again thin the vat with peari 
ashes, or tartar boiled in stale urine ; but the 
best cure, When she is too hard, is, to put in 
bran and madder at discretion ; and if she be 
but a little too hard, it will suffice to let her re- 
main quiet four, five, or six hours, or more, 
putting in only two hats full of bran arrd three 
or four pounds of madder, which are to be 
lightly strewed on the vat, after which it is to 



35 

be covered. Four or five hours after, she is to 
be raked and plunged, and according to the 
colour, that the 'flurry which arises from this 
motion, assumes an4 imprints on v the whole li- 
quor, a fresh proof is made by putting ia a 
pattern. 

If she is cracked, and casts blue only when 
she is cold, she must be left undisturbed, some- 
times whole days without raking; when she 
begins to strike a tolerable pattern, her liquor 
must be reheated or warmed ; then commonly 
the lime, which seemed to have lost all power 
to excite a fermentation, acquires new strength, 
and prevents the vat from yielding its die so 
soon.* If she is to be hastened, some bran and 
madder are to be thrown on, as also one or two 
baskets of new woad, which helps the liquor 
that has been reheated to spend its lime. 

Care must be taken to put patterns in each 
hour, in order to judge, by the green colour 
which the^acquire, how the lime is worked 
on. By these trials she may be conducted with 
more exactness, for when once a vat is cracked, 
by too great or too small ^quantity of lime, 
she is brought to bear with much rnorediffi- 
culty. If while you are endeavouring to bring 
her to work, the bever grows a little too cold, it 
must be heated by taking off some of the clear, 
and instead thereof, adding some warm wa- 
ter ; for when the bever is cold, the woad 
spends litde or no lime ; when it is too hot, it 
retards the action of the woad, and prevents 
it from spending the lime; therefore it is better 



36 

to wait a little, than to hasten the vats to come 
to work when they are cracked* A vat is 
known not to have been sufficiently served with 
lime, and that she is cracked, when the bever 
gives no flurry, but instead thereof gives only 
a scum, and when she is plunged or raked, she 
only works, ferments and hisses, (this noise is 
made by a great number of air bubbles that 
burst as soon as they form), the liquor has also 
the smell of a common sewer or sink, or rotten 
egg? ; it is harsh and dry to the touch: the 
grounds when taken out do not change, which 
generally happens when a vat is cracked for 
want of lime. This accident is chiefly to be 
apprehended when a vat is opened and a dip 
made in her ; for if her state has not been look- 
ed into, both in regard to the smell as well as 
raking and plunging, and that the stuffs be im- 
prudently put in when the woad has spent its 
lime, it is to be feared the vat may be lost ; for 
the stuffs being put in,. the small ^lantity of 
lime that still remains in a state to act, sticks 
to them, the bever is divested of it, and the 
stuffs only blotted - 9 these must be immediately 
taken out, and a quick remedy applied to the 
vat, to preserve the remaining part of the die, 
which is done by putting in three or four mea- 
sures of lime, more or less, according as the 
vat is cracked, and that without raking her bot- 
tom. 

It is also to be observed, that if in raking 
and plunging the fermentation ceases, and the 
bad smell change, it is then to be supposed 



w 

that the bever or liquor alone has suffered, and 
that the grounds are not yet in want. When 
the fermentation is in part or totally abated, and 
the bever has a smell of lime, and feels soft to 
the touch, the vat is to be covered and left at 
rest; and if the flurry still remains on the vat 
an hour and a half, a pattern is to be put in, 
which must be taken out one hour after, and 
you are to be guided according to the green 
ground it will take. But generally vats that 
are thus cracked, are not so soon brought to a 
state fit for dieing. 

The Opening of the Vat. 

The vat being come to work, the cross must 
be let down, and about thirty ells of cloth, or 
the equivalent of its weight of wool well scour- 
ed, (which is first intended to belied of a Per- 
sian blue to make a black afterwards), having 
returned this stirring several times, which must 
have always been covered with liquor, the cloth 
must be twisted on the rings fastened to the 
jack at the top of the vat; if it be^ wool, it is 
to be dipt with a net, which will serve to wring 
it: the cloth must be opened by its lists to air 
it, and to cool the green, that is, to make it 
lose the green colour it had coming out of the 
vat, and take the blue. If this cloth or wool 
was not deep enough for a mazarine blue by 
the first dipping, it must get another, by re- 
turning into the vat the end of the piece of 
cloth which first came out; and according to 

D 



38 

the strength of the woad, you must give to 
this striking two or three returns, as may be 
thought necessary for the intensity of the blue 
required. If the woad be good, such as the 
true L'Auragais is commonly, after taking out 
the first stirring, a second may be put in at this 
first opening of the vat. After making this 
opening, which is also called the first raking, the 
vat is^co be again raked, and served with lime 
at discretion, observing that it has the smell 
and touch conformable to what has been laid 
down before, and taking notice, that in pro- 
portion as the die diminishes, so does the 
strength of the woad. 

If the vat be in good order at the first open- 
ing, three or four stirrings may be made, and 
the next day, two or three more, only obser- 
ving not to hurry her, or to work her as strong 
as at first. That the vat may turn to as much 
profit as possible for the shades of blue ; 
first, all stuffs intended to be black, are died ; 
then the king's blue ; after these the green 
brown : the violets and Turkish blues are com- 
monly done in the last rakings of the second 
day of the opening. The third day, if the 
vat appears much diminished, she must be fil- 
led with hot water within four inches of the 
brim. This is called filling the vat. 

The latter end of the week, the light blues 
are made, and on Saturday night, having raked 
the vat, she is to be served a little more than 
the preceding day, that she may keep till Mon- 



39 

Monday morning the bever is put on the 
fire, by passing it from the vat into the copper 
by a trough, which rests on both ; this clear 
bever is emptied to the grounds, and when ic 
is ready to boil it must be returned into the vat, 
raking the grounds, as the hot liquor falls 
from the trough ; at the same time may be ad- 
ded akettleful of prepared indigo. 

When the vat is filled within four inches of 
the brim, and well raked, she must be cover- 
ed, and two hours after a pattern put in, which 
must remain not more than an hour ; lime must 
be added according to the shade of the green, 
which this proof pattern shall have taken, and 
at the expiration of an hour or two, if the vat 
has not suffered, the stuff" is to be put in ; ha- 
ving conducted it between two waters for about 
half an hour it is wrung, and a.dip is again 
given to it, as was done in the new vat. This 
vat heated again, is conducted in the same 
manner, that is, three raking* me made the 
first day, observing at each raking, whether 
she wants lime; for in this case, the quantity 
judged necessary must be given. 

Blue made of woad alone, according to the 
opinion of some persons prejudiced in favour 
of old customs, is much better than that which 
the woad gives- with the addition of indigo. 
But then this blue would be much dearer, be- 
cause woad gives much less die than indigo, 
and it has been found by repeated experience, 
that four pounds of fine indigo from Guati- 
mala, produced as much as a bale of AlbU 



40 

geois woad cr pastel; and five pounds as much 
as a bale from L'Auragais, which generally 
weighs two hundred and ten pounds. So the 
using of the indigo with the woad is a great 
saving, as one vat with indigo shall die as much 
as three without it. 

Indigo is generally put into new vats after 
xhe woad yields its blue, and a quarter or half 
after s:,e is to be served with lime ; as this so- 
lution of indigo is already impregnated witfv 
some of its dissolution, the lime must be given 
with a more sparing hand than where the woad 
is used alone. At the re-heating, the indigo 
is put in on Saturday night, that it may incor- 
porate with the bever, and that it may serve as 
garnish by its lime. The indigo that is brought 
from Guatimala in America is the best; it is 
brought ovf r in the shape of small stones, and 
of a deep blue; it must be of a deep violet 
colour within and when rubbed on the nail, 
have a copper hue ; the lightest is the best. It 
is necessary to observe, that for the better con- 
ducting of a woad vat, and to prevent acci- 
dents, a manufacturer ought to have a good 
woadman, this is the name given to the jour- 
neyman dier, whose principal business is to 
conduct the woad ; practice has taught him 
more than this treatise can furnish. 

I shall make some reflections necessary to 
attain a more perfect knowledge of this process. 
The woad vat must never be re-heated but 
when fit for working; that is, she must have 
neither too much nor too little lime, but be in 



4* 

such a state as only to want heating to come 
to work. It is known she has too much lime 
(as has been before observed) by the quick 
smell ; on the contrary, a want is known by 
the sweetish smell, and by the scum which 
rises on the surface by raking, being of a pale 
blue. 

Care must be taken when a vat is intended 
to be re- heated, not to serve her with lime in 
the evening, (unless in great want of it) for if 
she was too much served with it, she might 
next day be too hard,, as the diers term it; for 
by heating her again, a greater action is given 
to the lime, and makes her spend it the quicker. 
Fresh indigo is commonly put into the vat, 
each time she is reheated, in proportion to 
the quantity to be died. It would be needless 
to put in any, if there was but little work to 
do, or only light colours wanted. It was not 
permitted by the ancient regulations of France, 
to put more than six pounds of indigo to each 
bale of woad, because the colour of the indigo 
was thought not lasting, and that it was only 
the great quantity of woad which could secure 
and render it good; but it is now ascertained, 
both by the experiments of Monsieur Dufay, 
and those which I have since made, that the 
colour of indigo, even used alone, is full as 
good, and resists as much the action of the air* 
sun, and rain, as that of pastel or woad. 

When a vat has been heated two or three 
times, and a good part has been worked off, 
the same liquor is often preserved, but part of 

D 2 



42 

the grounds are taken our, which is replaced 
by newwoad; (this is called vamping) ; the 
quantity cannot be prescribed on this occasion, 
for it depends upon the work the dier has to 
do. Practice will teach all that can be wished 
for on this head. There are diers who pre- 
serve liquor in their vats several years, renew- 
ing them with woad and indigo in proportion 
as they work them ; others empty the vat en- 
tirely, and change the liquor when the vat has 
been heated six or seven times, and that she 
gives no more die. A series of practice alone 
will show which of these is preferable. It is 
however more reasonable to think, that by re- 
newing it now and then, more lively and beau- 
tiful colours may be obtained, and the best 
diers follow this method. 

In Holland they have vats which do not re- 
quire to be so often heated. Mr. Van Robbais 
had some of these made some years since for 
their royal manufactory at Abbeville. The 
upper parts of these vats, to the height of three 
feet, are of copper, and the rest lead. They 
are also surrounded with a small brick wall, at 
seven or eight inches from the copper; in this 
interval embers are put, which keep up the 
heat of the vat a long time, so that she remains 
several days together in a condition to be work- 
ed, without the trouble of heating her over 
again. These vats are much more costly than 
the others, but they are very convenient, espe- 
cially for the dipping of very light colours i 
because the vat is always fit to work, though 



43 

she be very weak ; this is not the case of the 
others, which generally make the colour a 
great deal deeper than required, unless they are 
set to cool considerably, and then it happens 
that the colour is not so good, nor has it the 
same brightness. To make these light colours 
in common vats, it is better to work some pur- 
posely that are strong with woad and weak of 
indigo j such give their colours slower, and 
light colours are made with greater ease. 

As to the vats made a r ter the Dutch fashion, 
and which have already been mentioned, the 
four which Mr. Van Robbais has in his manu- 
factory, are six feet in depth, of which three 
feet and a half in the upper part are copper, 
and the two feet and a half of the bottom are 
lead. The diameter at the bottom is four ft^t 
and a half, and that at the top five feet four 
inches. 

To return to the observations on heating 
the common vats. If the vat was heated where 
cracked, that is, when she has not quite lime 
enough, she would turn in the heating without 
being perceived, and perchance be entirely 
lost, as the heat would soon finish the spend- 
ing of the lime, which was in too small a quan- 
tity. If this is perceived in time, it must be 
helped by pouring it back into the vat without 
more heating; then feed her with lime, and 
not heat her till she is come to work. 

On the re-heating, some of the grounds 
must be put into the copper with the liquor or 
bever ; and great care must be taken not to 



44 

boil it, because the volatile necessary in this 
operation would evaporate. There are some 
diers, who, in heating their vats, do not put 
in the indigo immediately after the liquor is 
poured from the copper into the vat, but wait 
some hours till they see her come to work : 
this they do as a precaution, lest the vat should 
fail, and the indigo be lost - 7 but by this method, 
the indigo does not so freely yield its colour, 
as they are obliged to work her as soon as she 
is fit, that she may not cool, so that the indi- 
go, not being entirely dissolved, nor altoge- 
ther incorporated, has no effect. It is there- 
fore better to put it into the vat at the same 
time the liquor is cast in, and rake her well af- 
ter. If the vat is heated over again without 
her coming to work, she must not be scummed 
as in the common heatings, as the indigo would 
be carried off thereby, whereas, when she has 
worked, this scum is formed of the earthy part 
of the indigo and woad, united with a portion 
of lime. 

When too much lime is put into a vat, you 
must wait for her till such time as she has spent 
it, or it may be accelerated by heating it, or 
by putting in ingredients which destroy in part 
the action of the lime, such as tartar, vinegar* 
honey, bran, some mineral acid, or any mat- 
ter that will become sour j but all these cor- 
rectors wear out the die of the indigo and 
wo:id, so that the best method is, to let it spend 
of its own accord. A vat is not commonly fed 
with lime, but on the first, second, and some- 



times the third day, and it is also remarked, 
not to dip the violets, purples, or any other 
wool or stuffs which have previously a colour 
that may be easily damaged ; the succeeding 
day after its being fed with lime, as it is then 
too active, it dulls the first colour ; the fifth or 
sixth day the crimson may be dipt to give them 
a violet, and the yellows for green ; following 
this rule, the colours will always be bright. 

When a vat has been re-heated, she must 
come to work before she is served with lime; 
if this was done a little too soon, she must be 
cracked ; the sirne thing would happen if some 
of the grounds were put into the copper. The 
most effectual method in this case is to let her 
rest before she is worked, until she comes to, 
which often happens in two, three, or four 
hours, and sometimes a day. By using light 
or weak lime, she grows too hard; because 
this light lime remains in the liquor, and does 
not incorporate with the grounds. This is 
known by the strong smell of the liquor, and 
on the contrary the grounds have a sweetish 
smell, whereas the smell ought to be equal in 
both, The best way then is, to let it spend 
itself, by raking her often, in order to mix the 
lime with the grounds, until the smell of the 
vat is restored, and the flurry becomes blue. 

A woad vat may be set without the addition 
of indigo, but then she yields but little co- 
lour, and only dies a small quantity of wool or 
stuffs ; for one pound of indigo, as has already 
been observed, affords as much die as fifteen 



4 6 

or sixteen pounds of woad. I set one of this 
kind to try the qualities of woad by itself, and 
I could not find that indigo was any way in- 
ferior to it, either for the beauty or solidity of 
the colour. As lime is always used, and some- 
times sour liquors, in the setting of a vat, this 
is the proper place to speak of their prepara- 
tion. 

Preparation of Lime. 

That the lime may be properly slacked for 
the dier's use several pieces are immersed in 
water, one after another, and when each has 
remained till it begins to crackle, they are 
taken out to put in others, and after this man- 
ner they are cast into an empty vessel, where 
the lime finishes slacking, and reduces itself 
to powder, considerably augmenting its bulk; 
it is afterwards sifted through a canvas, and 
kept in a dry hogshead. 

Sour liquors are not only necessary income 
circumstances of setting a woad v;u, but also 
in some of the preparations given to wool and 
stuffs previous to their being died ; they are 
prepared after the following manner : 

Preparation of sour Liquors. 

A copper of the size required is filled with 
river water, and when it boils, it is flung into 
a hogshead, where a sufficient quantity of bran 
has been put, and stirred with a stick three dr 



47 

four times a day. The proportion of bran and 
water is not very material ; I have made a good 
liquor by putting three bushels of bran into a 
vessel containing two hundred and fourscore 
quarts. Four or five days after, this water be- 
comes sour, and consequently fit for use in all 
cases, where it will not be detrimental to the 
preparations of wool that are independent of 
dieing. 

For it may happen, that wool in the fleece 
which .has been died in a liquor where too great 
a quantity of sour water has been put, will be 
harder to spin, as the sediment of the bran 
forms a sort of starch that glues the fibres of 
the wool, and prevents them from forming an 
even thread. I must here take notice of the 
bad custom of letring sour liquors remain in 
copper-vessels, as I have seen in some eminent 
die -houses j for this liquor being an acid, cor- 
rodes the copper, and if it remains long enough 
to take in a portion of -this metal, it will cause 
a defect both in die die and in the quality of 
the stuff: in the die, because the dissolved 
copper gives a greenish cast; in the quality of 
the stuff, because the copper dissolved preys 
on all animal substances. The diers are often 
ignorant of the cause of these defects. 

I flatter myself to have omitted no essential 
point on the vroad vat : if any difficulties or ac- 
cidents, which I have mentioned, are not 
found in the/practice they are nor considerable, 
and an easy remedy will be found by those who 



make themselves familiar with the workiag 
part. 

The readers who have no idea of this work, 
may think me too prolix, and find repetitions; 
but those who intend to make use of what I 
have taught in this chapter, will perhaps re- 
proach me for not having said enough on the 
subject. 

Those that read this chapter with attention, 
will not be surprised that the master-piece for 
apprentices to diers of the great die, is, to set 
the woad vat and work her. 



CHAPTER III. 



OF THE FIELD WOAD VAT. 

I HAVE but little to say on this woad vat, 
different from that which has been related 
of the pastel or garden woad. The woad is a 
plant cultivated in Normandy, and prepared 
after the same manner the garden woad is in 
Languedoc. The method of cultivating it 
may be seen in the French " General Instruc- 
tions on Dies," of the 28th of March, 1671, 
from the article 259 to 288, where it treats of the 
culture and preparation of the pastel and woad. 
The woad vat is set at work after the same 
manner as that of pastel 5 all the difference is 



49 

that it has less strength and yields less die, 
There follows a description of the vvoad vat, 
which. I carried on in small, and in a bath heat, 
similar to that of the pastel in the foregoing 
chapter, 

I placed in a copper a small vessel containing 
fifty quarts, and filled two- thirds with a liquor 
made . of river water, one ounce of madder* 
and a little weld, putting in at the same time 
a good handful of wheaten bran and five 
pounds of woad. The vat was well raked and 
covered; it was then five in the evening; it 
was again raked at seven, nine, twelve, two, 
and .four o'clock; the woad was then work- 
ing, that is, the vat was slowly coming to work, 
as I have already related of that of the pasteh 

Pretty large air bubbles formed themselves, 
"but in a smail quantity, and had scarcely any 
colour. She was then served with two ounces 
of lime and raked. At five o'clock a pattern 
was put in ; which was taken out at six, raking 
her; this pattern began to have some colour; 
another was put in at seven, at eight she was 
raked, and the pattern came out pretty bright * 
an ounce of indigo was then put in ; at nine 
another pattern, at ten she was raked, and one 
ounce of lime was added, because she began 
to have a sweetish smell ; at eleven a pattern, 
at twelve she was raked ; it was thus continued 
till five, then three ounces of indigo were put 
in, at six a pattern, at seven she was raked. 
It would then have been proper to have served 
h^er with water, as she was at that time per^ 

E 



5° 

fectly come to work, the pattern that was taken 
out being very green, and turning of a bright 
blue. But besides that I was fatigued, hav- 
ing sat up the whole night, I chose rather 
to put her back to the next day, to see her ef- 
fect by day-light; and for that purpose, I put 
one ounce of lime, which kept her up till nine 
in the morning: from time to time patterns 
were put in, the last that was taken out was 
very beautiful ; she was served with a liquor 
composed of water, and a small handful of 
bran. She was raked, and patterns put in 
from hour to hour -, at five she was come to 
work ; she was afterwards served with lime, 
and raktd to preserve her till she was to be re- 
heated. 

Some time after I set another with the woad 
alone without indigo, that I might be able to 
judge of the lasting of the die of the woad, 
which, upon trial, 1 found to be as good as 
the pastel or garden woad. Thus all the su- 
periority the pastel has on the woad, is, that 
the latter yields less die than the former. 

The little varieties that may be observed in 
setting these different vats at work, prove, that 
there are many circumstances in these pro- 
cesses that are not absolutely necessary. It ap- 
pears to me, that the only important point, 
and that to which the greatest attention is to be 
given, is, in the conducting the fermentation 
with care, and not to serve her with lime, but 
when judged necessary by the indications I 
have laid down. As to the indigo being put 



5 X 

in at twice, or altogether, a little sooner or 
later, it appears very indifferent. The same 
may be said of the weld, which I made use of 
twice, and suppressed the two other times, and 
of pearl-ashes, which I added in a small quan- 
tity in the small pastel vat, and suppressed in 
the woad vat. In short, I believe, and it ap- 
pears to ine to a demonstration,^ that the 
greatest regard is to be had to the proper dis- 
tribution of the lime, throughout the whole 
course of the working of the vats, either to 
set them at work, or to re-heat them. I must 
also add, that when a woad vat is set to work, 
she cannot be too-often inspected into to know 
her state; for if there are some that are back- 
ward (which is attributed to the weakness of 
the woad) there are also others that very quick- 
ly come to work. I have seen a middling one 
of seventy pounds of woad, poisoned ; because 
the woad man neglected to inspect her as often 
as she required, and she had been two hours 
fit to work before he discovered it; the grounds 
were entirely come up to the surface of the li- 
quor, and the whole had a very sour smell; it 
was not possible to bring her back, and they 
were obliged to fling her away, as she would 
in a short time have contracted a foetid smell. 
The retarding of the action of the vat may 
also proceed from the temperature of the air; 
for the vat cool§ a great deal sooner in winter 
than in summer; therefore it becomes ^necessary 
to watch it attentively, though commonly they 



5* 

are fourteen or fifteen hours before they come 
to work. 

I shall endeavour to explain, in the sequel, 
how the colouring part of this ingredient* so 
necessary in dieing, displays itself \ but 1 must 
first of all speak of vats which are prepared 
from indigo. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE INDIGO VAT. 

Process of making the indigo in America. 

INDIGO is the fecula of a plant named nill 
or anil; to make it, three vats are placed 
the one over the other, in form 5f a cascade j 
in the first, called the steeper, the plant is put 
in widji >rs leaves, bark and -flowers*, and filled 
with water; some time after, the whole fer- 
ments, the water grows intensely hot, thickens, 
and becomes of a blue colour bordering on the 
violet ; the plant, according to the opinion of 
some, deposing all its salts, and, according 
to others, all us substance. In this state, the 
cocks of the steeper are turned, and all the wa- 

* In the village of Sargussa, near the toivn of Anaadah&t, 
the Indian? only use the leaves of the anil ; they fling away 
the rest of the plant. The best indigo comes from thence. 



53 

ter let out stained with the colouring parts of 
the plant into the second, called the beater ; be- 
cause this water is beat by a mill or a machine 
that has long sticks, to condense the substance 
of the indigo, and precipitate it to the bottom. 
By this means the water becomes clear and co- 
lourless, like common water; then the cocks 
are turned, that the water may run off from the 
surface of the blue sediment; after which, 
other cocks are turned that are at the bottom, 
that all the fecula may fall into the third vat, 
called the reposer , for it is- there the indigo re- 
mains to dry ; it is then taken out to be made 
into cakes, &c. See, on this subject, Histoire 
des Antilles > 'pare le Pete Labat. 

At Pondichcrry, on the coast of Coroman- 
del, there are two kinds of indigo, the one a 
great deal finer than the other; the best is sel- 
dom used but to lustre their silks, the inferior 
in dieing. They augment in price according 
to their quali y ; there is some which cost from 
15 pagodas the bar (which weighs 48 pounds) 
to 200 pagodas. The most beautifu* is pre- 
pared nigh Agra. There is also a very good 
kind that comes from Masilupatan and Aya- 
non, where the -East India Company have a 
factory. At Chandernagor it is called nil when 
k is prepared and cut to pieces. The indigo 
of Java is the best of all ; it is also the dearest r 
and consequently few diers use it. Good in- 
digo ought to be so light as to float on the wa- 
ter ; the more it sinks, the more it may be sus- 
pected of being adulterated by a mixture of 

E 2 



54 

earth, cinders, or pounded slates. It must be 
of a deep blue, bordering on the violet, bril- 
liant, lively, and shining ; it must be finer 
within, and appear of a shining hue. Its good- 
ness is tried by dissolving it in a glass of water ; 
if it be unmixed and well prepared, it will dis- 
solve entirely; if sophisticated, the foreign 
matter will sink to the bottom. Another me- 
thod of trying it is by burning; good indigo 
burns entirely away, and when adulterated, 
the mixture remains after the indigo is con- 
sumed. 

Powdered indigo is much more subject to 
adulteration than that which is in cakes : for it 
is^ a difficult matter that sand, powdered 
slates, &c. should unite so as not to form to- 
gether in different places layers of different 
matters; and, in this case, by breaking the 
lump indigo, it is easily discovered. 

Method of working the Indigo Vat. 

There are several methods of preparing the 
indigo vat; I tried all those I knew, and they 
all succeeded. I shall describe them after the 
most exact manlier, beginning with that which 
is the most in- use, and almost the only one 
known at Paris. 

It is a vat which is about five feet in height, 
two feet-diameter, and becomes narrow to- 
wards the bottom ; she is surrounded with a 
wall that leaver a space round her, which serves 
to hold embers. In a vat of this size, two 



ss 

pounds of indigo may at least be used, and 
five or six for the greatest proportion. Tq set 
a va-t of two pounds of indigo in such a vessel 
that may contain about fourscore quarts, about 
sixty quarts of river water are set to boil in a 
copper for the space of half an hour, with two 
pounds of pearl ashes, two ounces of madder, 
and a handful of bran ; diking this, the indigo 
is prepared after the following manner : 

Two pounds of it are weighed out, and cast 
into a pail of cold water to separate the earthy 
parts. The water is afterwards poured off by 
inclination, and the indigo well ground; a 
little warm water is put into it, shaking it from 
side to side j it is poured by inclination into a 
another vessel; what remains is still ground, 
and fresh water put in to carry off the finest 
parts, and thus continued till all the indigo is 
reduced into a powder, fine enough to be raised 
by the water. This is all the preparation it un- 
d( rgoes. Then the liquor which has boiled in 
the copper with the grounds are poured into 
the high and narrow vat, as likewise the indi- 
go; the whole is then raked with a small rake, 
the vat is covered, and embers placed round 
her. If this work was begun in the afternoon, 
a few embers are added at night ; the same is 
repeated the next day morning and night. The 
vat is also lightly raked twice the second day ; 
the third day, the embers are continued to be 
put round, to keep up the heat of the vat; 
she is raked twice in the day : about this time, 
^shining copper- coloured *kin begins to ap- 



5 6 

pear on the surface of the liquor, and appears 
as if it was broken or cracked in several places. 
The fourth day, by continuing the fire, this 
skin or pelicle is more formed and closer; the 
flurry, which rises in raking the vat, appears, 
and the liquor becomes of a deep green. 

When the liquor is in this state, it is a sign 
that it is time to fill the vat. For this purpose 
a fresh liquor is made, by putting into a cop- 
per about twenty quarts of watery with one 
pound of pearl ashes, a handful of bran, and 
half an ounce of madder. This is boiled a 
quarter df an hour, and the vat is served with 
it ; shejs then raked, and causes a great quan- 
tity of flurry to rise, and the vat comes to 
work the next day; this is known by the quan- 
tity of flurry with which she is covered by the 
skin or copper-scaly crust which swims on the 
liquor, which* although it appears of a blue- 
brown, is nevertheless green underneath. 

This vat was much longer coming to its co- 
lour then the others, because the fire was too 
srrong the second day, otherwise she would 
have been fit to work two days sooner. This 
did no other damage but retarded her, and the 
day she came to work, we dipt in serges weigh- 
ing thirteen or fourteen pounds. As this cau- 
sed her to lose her strength, and the liquor be- 
ing diminished by the pieces of stuff that had 
been died in her, she was served in the after- 
noon with fresh liquor, made with one pound 
of pearl-ashes, half an ounce of madder, and' 
a handful of bran ;«the whole was boiled toge- 



57 

ther in a copper for a quarter of an hour ; the 
vat being served with it she was raked, covered, 
and a few embers put round. She may be pre- 
served after this manner several days, and when 
she is wanted to work, she must be raked over 
night, and a little fire placed about her. 

When there is occasion tore-heat, and add 
indigo to this kind of vat, two-thirds of the 
liquor (which then is no more green, but of a 
blue-brown and almost black) is put into a 
copper 5 when it is ready to boil, all the scum 
that is formed at the top is t?>ken off with a 
sieve -, it is afterwards made to boil, and two 
handfuls of bran, a quarter of a pound of 
madder, and two pounds of pearl-ashes are ad- 
ded. The fire is then removed from iht cop- 
per, and a little cold water cast into it to stop 
the boil; after which the whole is put into the 
vat, wiih one pound of powdered indigo, di- 
luted in a portion of the liquor as before rela- 
ted \ after this the vat is raked, covered, and 
some fire put rounds the next day she is fit to 
work. 

When the indigo vat has been re-heated seve- 
ral times, it is necessary to empty her entirely, 
and to set a fresh one, or she will not give a 
lively die ; when she is too old and stale, the 
liquor is not of so fine a green as at first. 

I put several other vats to work after the 
same method, with different quantities of in- 
digo, from one pound to six ; always observing 
to augment or diminish the other ingredients 
in proportion, but always one pound of pearl* 



5 8 

ashes to each pound of indigo. I have since 
made other experiments, which, proved to me 
that this proportion was not absolutely neces- 
sary ; and I make no doubt but that several 
other means might be found to make the indi- 
go come to as perfect a colour. I shall, ne- 
vertheless, proceed to some other observations 
on this vat* 

Of all those I set to work, after the manner 
described, one only failed me, and that by neg- 
lecting to put fire rounci her the second day. 
She never came to a proper colour; powdered 
arsenic was put in to no effect; red-hot bricks 
were also plunged in at different times; the 
liquor turned of a greenish hue, but never 
tame to the proper colour; and having attempt- 
ed several other means without success, or 
without being able to find out the cause of her 
not succeeding, I caused the liquor to be emp- 
tied and cast away. 

All the other accidents that have happened 
me in conducting the indigo vat, have only 
lengthened the operation; so that this process 
may be looked upon as very easy when com- 
pared to that of the woad vat. I have also 
made several experiments on both, in which 
my chief view was to shorten the time of the 
common preparation ; but not meeting with 
the desired success, I shall not relate them. 

The liquor of the indigo vat is not exactly 
like that of the woad ; its surface is of a blue- 
brown, covered with coppery scales, and the 
under part of a beautiful green. The stuff or 



59 

wool died in this is green when taken out, and 
becomes blue a moment after. We have al- 
ready setn that the same happens to the stuff 
died in the \yoad vat; but it is remarkable, 
that the liquor of the last is not green, and 
yet produces on the woad the same effect as 
the other. It must also be observed, that if 
the liquor of the indigo vat be removed out 
of the vessel ir> which it was contained, and if 
too long exposed to the air, it loses its green 
and all its quality, so that, although it gives a 
blue colour, that colour is not lasting. 

I shall examine this more particularly in the 
sequel, and endeavour to give the chymical 
theory of this change. 



CHAPTER V, 



THE COLD VAT WITH URINE. 

A. VAT is also prepared with urine, which 
yields its colour cold, and is worked cold : 
for this purpose four pounds of indigo are 
powdered, which is to be digested on warm 
ashes twenty-four hours, in four quarts of vine- 
gar; if it is not then well dissolved, it must 
be ground again with the liquor, and urine is 
to be added little by little, with half a pound 
of madder, which must be well diluted by stir- 



6o 

ring the liquor with a stick ; when this prepa- 
ration is made, it is poured into a vessel filled 
with 250 quarts of urine; it matters not 
whether it be fresh or stale; the whole is well 
stirred and raked together night and morn- 
ing for eight days, or till the vat appears 
green at the surface when raked, or that she 
makes flurry as the common vat; she is then 
fit to work, without mere trouble than previ- 
ously raking her two or three hours before. 
This kind of vat is extremely convenient, for 
when once set to work, she remains good till 
she be entirely drawn, that is, till the indigo 
has given all its. colour; thus she may be 
worked at all times, whereas the common vat 
must be prepared the day before. 

This vat may at pleasure be made more or 
less considerable by augmenting or diminish- 
ing the ingredients in proportion to the indigo 
intended to be made use pf ; so that to < ach 
pound of indigo add a quart of vinegar, two 
ounces of madder, and sixty or seventy quarts 
of urine. This vat comes sooner to work in 
summer than in winter, and may be brought 
sooner to work by warming some of the liquor 
without boiling, and returning ir into the vat; 
this process is so simple that it is almost impos- 
sible to fail. 

When the indigo is quite spent, and gives 
no more die, the vat may be charged again 
without setting a new one. For this purpose, 
indigo must be dissolved in vinegar, adding 
madder in proportion to the indigo, pouring 



6i 

the whole into the vat, and raking he? night 
and morning, and evening as at first, she will 
be as good as before; however she must not 
be charged this way above four or five times, 
for the ground of the madder and indigfo? 
would dull the liquor, and in consequence ren- 
der the colour less bright. I did not try this 
method, and therefore do not answer for the 
success; but here follows another with urine 
which gives a very lasting blue, and which I 
prepared. 

Hot Vat with Urine. 

A pound of indigo was steeped twenty-four 
hours in four quarts of clear urine, and when 
the urine became very blue, it was run through 
a fine sieve into a pail, and the indigo which 
could not pass, and which remained in the 
sieve, was put with four quarts of fresh urine; 
this was so continued till all the indigo had 
passed through the sieve with the urine; this 
lasted about two hours. At four in the after- 
noon three* hogsheads of urine were put into 
the copper, and it was made as hot as could 
be without boiling, The urine cast up a thick 
scum, which was taken up with a broom a^d 
cast out of the copper. It was thus scummed 
at different times, till there only remained a 
white and light scum ; the urine, by this 
means sufficiently purified and ready to boil, 
was poured into the wooden vat, and the indi- 
go prepared as above, put in ; the vat was 

F 



62 

then raked, the bettef to mix the indigo with 
the urine : soon after, a liquor was put into 
the vat, made of two quarts of urine, a pound 
of roach-alum, and a pound of red tartar. To 
make this liquor, the alum and tartar were 
first put into the mortar, and reduced to a'fine 
powder, upon which the two quarts of urine 
were poured, and the whole rubbed together, 
till this mixture, which rose all of a sudden, 
ceased to ferment : it was then put into the 
vat, which was strongly raked ; and being co- 
vered with its wooden cover, she was left in 
that state all night ; the next morning the li- 
quor was of a very green colour y this was a 
sign she was come to work, and that she might 
have bee^ worked if thought proper, but no- 
thing was" died in her s for all that was done, 
was only, properly speaking, the first prepa- 
ration of the vat, and the indigo which had 
been put in was only intended to feed the \irine, 
so that to finish the preparation the vat was 
let to rest for two days, always covered, that 
she might cool the slower ; then a second 
pound of indigo was prepared, ground with 
purified urine as before. About four in the af- 
ternoon all the liquor of the vat was put into 
the copper ; it was heated as much as possible 
without boiling; some thick scum formed on 
it which was taken off, and the liquor being 
ready to boil was returned into the vat. At 
the same time the ground indigo was put in, 
with a liquor made as above of one pound of 
alum, one pound of tartar, and two quarts of 



6 3 

urine, a fresh pound of madder was also ad- 
ded ; then the vat was raked, well covered, 
and left so the whole night. The next morn- 
ing she was come to work, the liquor being 
very hot, and of a very fine green, she was 
worked with wool in the fleece, of which 
thirty pounds were put into the vat. It was 
well extended and worked between the hands, 
that the liquor might the more easily soak into 
it; then it was left at rest for an hour or two, 
according as lighter of deeper blues are re- 
quired. 

All this time the vat was weli covered, that 
it might the better retain its heat, for the hot 
ter she is, the better she dies, and whep cold 
acts no more. When the wool came to the 
shade of the blue required, it was taken out of 
the vat in parcels, about the bignessof a man's 
head, twisted and wrung over the liquor as they 
were taken out, till from green, as they were 
coming out of the vat, they became blue. This 
change from green to blue is made in three or 
four minutes. These thirty pounds being thus 
died, and the green taken off, the vat was ra- 
ked, and suffered to rest for two hours, being 
all that time well covered ; then thirty pounds 
more were put in, which was well extended 
with the hands, the vat was covered, and in 
four or five hours this wool was died at the 
height or shade of the first thirty pounds ; it 
was then taken out in heaps, and the green ta- 
ken off as before. This done, the vat had 
still some little heat, but not sufficient to die 



6 4 

fresh wool; for when she has nor a sufficient 
hear, the colour she gives would neither be 
uniform nor lasting, so that it must be re-heat- 
ed, ami fresh indigo put in as before. This 
may be done as often as judged proper for 
this vat does not spoil by age, provided, that 
whilst she is kept without working, a little air 
is let into her. 

Re -he at trig of the Vat with Urine. 

About four in the afternoon, the whole li- 
quor of the vat was put into a copper, and a 
sufficient quantity of urine added to this li- 
quor, to make up the deficiency that had been 
lo^t by evaporation during the preceding work. 
Ths tilling commonly takes eight or nine pails 
of urine ; the liquor was then heated and 
scummed as before, and when ready to boil, 
returned into the vat with a pound of indigo, 
and the liquor above deshrihed, consisting of 
alum and tartar, of each one pound, madder 
one pound, and two quarts of urine. After 
rakring the vat well, and covering her, she was 
left at rest the whole night. 

The next day she came to work, and sixty 
pounds of wool were died in her at twice as be- 
fore. It is after this nianner all the re-heatings 
must be done the evening before the dieing, 
and these re heatings may extend to infinity, 
as the vat, once set, serves a long time 

I must here observe, that the greater the 
quantity of indigo put in at once is, the deeper 



the blue : thus instead of one pound, four, 
five, or six pounds may be put in together ; 
nor is it necessary to augment the dose of 
alum, tartar, or madder, of which ingredients 
the liquor is composed ; but ir the vessel hold 
more than three hogsheads, then the dose of 
these must be augmented in proportion. The 
vat I have mentioned held three, and was too 
small to die at one time a sufficient quantity 
of wool to make a piece of cloth, viz. fifty or 
sixty pounds; for this purpose it would be ne- 
cessary that che vac should contain at least six 
hogsheads, and from this a double advantage 
would ansr i. All the wool will be died in 
three or four hours, whereas diemg it at twice, 
it takes eight or ten hours. 2. At the end of 
three hours, in which time the wool would be 
died, taken out, and the green taken off, the 
vat being yet very hot; after ruking and letting 
her rest a couple of hours, the same wool 
might be returned into her, which would 
hearten the colour very much ; for all wool 
that has been died, aired, and the green taken 
off, aiways takes a finer colour than new or 
whire wool, which might remain twenty hours 
in the vat. 

Great care must be taken to air and take off 
the green of the died parcels of wool that are 
taken out of the vat hastily, that the air may 
strike them equally, without which the blue 
colour will not be uniform throughout the 
wool. 

F 2 



66 

There are manufacturers who say that cloths, 
whose wool has received this ground of blue 
wich urine, cannot be perfectly scoured at the 
fulling mill, even at twice; others vouch the 
contrary, and I am of opinion the last speak 
the truth; yet, if the first are right, it might 
be suspected that the animal oil of the urine 
becoming resinous by drying on the wool, or 
by uniting with the oil with which the wool is 
moistened ; for its oiher preparations more 
strongly resist the fuller's earth and soap, than 
a simple oil by expression. To remedy this, 
the wool ought to be well washed in a running 
water after it is died, twisted, aired, the green 
taken off, and cooled. Be it as it may, the 
woad va< will always be preferred in the great 
die houses to those kinds of indigo vats made 
with urine or otherwise; and for this' reason, 
that with a good woad vat, and an ingenious 
woadman, much more work is despatched than 
with all the other blue vats. 

I have described the indigo vats in this 
treatise, not with a design to introduce them 
in the large manufactories, but to procure easy 
means to the diers in small, and small manu- 
factories, to whom I wish this work may be of 
as much advantage as to the others. I shall 
therefore here describe a cold vat, which may 
be used with advantage by those who die small 
stuffs, in whose composition thread and cotton 
enter. The colour is lasting, but cannot be 
made use of for wool. 



6j 



CHAPTER VI. 



OF THE COLD INDIGO VAT WITHOUT URINE, 

IT is customary at Rouen, and in some other 
cities of France, to die in a cold indigo vat, 
different from that described in the foregoing 
chapter, and more convenient, as she comes to 
work sooner, and has no bad smell. She is 
prepared after the following manner : 

Dissolve three pounds of indigo powdered 
finely, in a glazed earthen pot, with three pints 
of strong soap boiler's lees, which is a strong 
lee of soda and quick lime. The indigo takes 
about twenty-four hours dissolving, and when 
perfectly so, remains suspended in the liquor, 
thickens it, and gives it the consistence of an ex- 
tract. At the same time, three pounds of sif- 
ted slacked lime must be put into another vessel 
with six quarts of water, and boiled together 
for a quarter of an hour; when settled, the clear 
is poured off by inclination. Then three pounds 
of green copperas are to be dissolved in this 
clgaLJiilig wa ter, aird the whole let to rest till 
■s^pP^xt day. Three hundred quarts of water 
aire then put in a large deal vessel (no other 
wood but deal will do, for it would dull and 



68 

blacken the die, especially if it was oak.) The 
two solutions which were made the day before 
are put in, the vat is well raked, and suffered 
to rest. 1 have seen her come to colour in two 
hours after, but this never fails to happen the 
next day at farthest. She makes a great deal 
of flurry, and the liquor becomes of a fine green 
colour, but a little more on the yellow than the 
green of the common vat. 

When rhis vat begins to spend herself, she 
is to be quickened without pucting in fresh in- 
digo, by making a small liqour with two 
pounds of green copperas, dissolved in a suf- 
ficient quantity of lime water; but when the 
indigo has spent all its coiour, she must be re- 
charged by putting in fresh, dissolved in such 
a lee as has been described. 

Water cf Old Iron. 

Some diers put into this vat a little water of 
old iron. It is a mixture of vinegar and water, 
in which some old iron nails have been put to 
rust. They say this makes the colour more 
lasting, but I have experienced, that it is suf- 
ficiently so without this, and as good as all 
the other blues, of which I have before given 
the preparation. 

I set sevcralsmail vats ; those that required 
to be heated were put in a bath or sand- heat, 
in small glass bodies ; and those that are worked 
cold were left without doing any thing to them* 
These last are easy, being sufficient to dimi- 



6 9 

nish the quantity of liquor, and of ail the 
otner ingredients, in proportion to the vessel 
that is to be set, and it is almost impossible to 
fail. 

As to that which I first described, which is 
sec hot, as it is somewhat more difficult, and 
that several might be willing to try the experi- 
ment, which in itself is curious, and neither re- 
quires expense nor apparatus to perform in 
small, I shall give the process of one which 
succeeded perfectly, and in which I had de- 
signedly put a greater quantity of indigo than 
usually is done in the common proportion. 

I boiled two quarts of water With two scru- 
ples of madder and four ounces of pearl-ashes ; 
after boiling a quarter of an hour, I put it into 
a body, which held about four quarts, and 
had been previously heated with warm water, 
and in which I had put a quarter of a handful 
of bran. The whole was well stirred with a 
deal spatula, the glass body put on a very gen- 
tle sand-heat, which only kept it warm, and 
pretty near the same degree of heat that is re- 
quired for the common indigo vat. 

The fire was kept all night, and the next 
day under the sand-heat, without aay sensible 
change happening ; it was only stirred twice 
a-day. The' next day some flurry began to 
rise, and a copper-coloured skin formed on the 
surface, and the liquor was of a green-brown; 
it was then filled up with a liquor made of a 
quart of water, two ounces of pearl-ashes, 
and- a little bran. I mixed the whole together, 



7° 

then let it rest. It came perfectly well to co- 
lour, and the next day I died several middling 
pieces of stuffs and wool. These small vessels 
may be re-heated and charged again as easily as 
a large one. 

I chink I have nothing more to say concern- 
ing the method of setting to work all these 
kinds of blue vats ; yet I am persuaded that 
there are several other means practised in dif- 
ferent places, and that it is even easy to con- 
trive new ones ; however, I can affirm that all 
those which I have described are very sure, and 
that they have all been worked several times 
with the same success. 



CHAPTER VII. 



OF THE METHOD OF DIEING BLUE. 

WHEN the vat is once prepared and come 
to work, the dieing of wool or stuffs is 
easy. Wet them well in clear warm water, 
wringing and dipping them in the vat, and 
keeping them in more or less time, according as 
the colour is required in shade. From time to 
time the stuff is aired, that is, taken out of the 
vat and wrung, so that the liquor may fall 
back into the vat, and exposed a little to the 
air, which takes off the green in one or two 



7 1 

minutesrj for let what* vat soever be used, the 
stuff is always green at its coming out, and 
only takes the blue colour in proportion as the 
air acts upon it. It is also very necessary to 
let the green go off before it is returned into 
the liquor to receive a second shade, as being 
then better abie to judge of its colour, and 
know if it is requisite to give what is called 
one or several turnings. 

It is an ancient custom among diers to 
reckon thirteen shades of blue frorrf the deepest 
to the lightest. Although their denominations 
be somewhat arbitrary, and that it is impossi- 
ble exactly to fix the just passage from one to 
the other, I shall notwithstanding give the 
names. They are as follow, beginning with 
the lightest: milk blue, pearl-blue,, pale-blue, 
flat-blue, middling- blue, sky blue, queen's- 
blue, turkish blue, watchet-blue, garter blue, 
mazareen-blue, deep-blue, and very deep- 
blue. 

These distinctions are not equally received 
by all diers, nor in all provinces, but the 
most part are known; and it is the only me- 
thod that can be taken to give an idea of the 
same colour, whose only difference is in being 
more or less deep. 

It is easy to make deep blues, I have al- 
ready said, that to effect this, the wool or stuffs 
are to be returned several times 1 into the vat; 
but it is not so in respect to light blues ; for 
when the vat is rightly come to work, the wool 
can seldom be left in short time enough, but 



7 2 

that it takes more than the shade required. It 
often happens when a certain-quantity of wool 
is to be dipped, and that it cannot all be put in 
at the same time, that what goes in at first is 
deeper than the other. There are some diers 
who, to obviate this inconveniency in making 
very light blues, which they call milk and wa- 
ter, take some of the liquor of the indigo vat, 
and dilute it in a very great quantity of luke- 
warm water ; but this method is a bad one, for 
the wool died in this mixture has not near so 
lasting a colour as that died in the vat; as the 
altering ingredients which are put into the vat 
with the indigo, serves as much to dispose the 
pores of the subject which is dipped in, as to 
the opening of the colouring fecula which is to 
die it, their concourse being necessary for the 
adhesion of the colour. The best method of 
making these very light blues, is to pass them 
either in a woad or indigo vat, out of which 
the colour has been worked, and begins to 
cool. The woad vat is still preferable to that 
of the indigo, as it does not die so soon. 

The blues made in vats that havr been work- 
ed are duller than the others; but they may 
be pretty sensibly roused by passing the wool or 
stuffs in boiling water. This practice is even 
necessary to the perfection of all blue shades; 
by this the colour is not only made brighter, 
but afeo rendered more secure, by taking off* all 
that is not well incorporated with the wool; it 
also prevents its sporting the hands or linen, 
which commonly happens, and the diers, to 



73 

gain time, neglect this precaution. After the 
wool is taken out of the warm water, it is ne- 
cessary to wash it again in the river, or at least 
in a sufficient quantity of water for the carry- 
ing off ail the superfluous loose die. 

The best method to render the blue die 
brighter, is by filling them with a thin liquor 
of melted soap, and afterwards cleansing them 
from the soap by warm water, and, if conve- 
nient, by rinsing them in an old cochineal li- 
quor. This method is to be taken with deep 
blues ; but if the same was taken with very 
light blues, they would lose their bright blue 
lustre, and incline to grey. 

I hope to have removed all difficulties on the 
preparation of blue, and in the method of die- 
ing it. Same diers, for the sake of gain, spare 
the woad and indigo, and use for blue, orcbel 
or logwood, and brazil ; this ought to be ex- 
pressly forbid, though this adulterated blue is 
often brighter than a lasting and legitimate 
blue. I shall take notice of this in the chap- 
ters treating on the lesser die. 

I shall now explain the theory of the invisi- 
ble change of the blue die. This colour, which 
I shall here only consider in relation to its use 
in the dieing of stuffs of what kind soever, has 
hitherto been extracted only from the vegetable 
world, and it does not appear that we can hope 
to use in this art the blues the painters em- 
ploy : such are the Prussian blue, which holds 

G 



74 

of the animal and mineral kind*; the azure, 
which is a vitrified mineral substance; the ul- 
tramarine, which is prepared from a hard 
stone; the earths that have a blue colour, &c. 
These matters cannot, without losing their co- 
lour in whole or in part, be reduced into atoms 
sufficiently minute, so as to be suspended in 
the saline liquid, which must penetrate the 
fibres of the animal and vegetable substances 
of which stuffs are manufactured; for under 
this name linen and cotton cloths must be com- 
prehended, as well as those wove of silk and 
wool. 

Hitherto we know but of two plants that 
yield blue after their preparation : the one is 
the isatis or glaustum, which is called pastel 
in Languedoc, and woad in Normandy. Their 
preparation consists in a fermentation conti- 
nued even to the putrefaction of all the parts 
of the plant, the root excepted ; and conse- 
quently in the unfolding of all their principles 
into a new combination, and fresh order of 
these same principles, from whence follows an 
union of infinite fine particles, which, applied 
to any subject whatever, reflects the light on 
them very different from what it would be, if 
these same particles were still joined to these 
which the fermentation has separated. 

The other plant is the anil, which is culti- 
vated in the East and West Indies, out of 

* 1748, Mons, Macquer, of the Royal Academy of 
Sciences, found the means of using the Prussian blue to die 
silk and cloth, in a blue whose brightness surpassed all the 
blues hitherto known. 



75 

which they prepare that fecula that is sent to 
Europe under the name of indigo. In the pre- 
paration of this plant the Indians and Ameri- 
cans, more industrious than ourselves, have 
found out the art of separating only the co- 
louring parts of the plant from the useless 
ones y and the French and Spanish colonies 
.have imitated them, and thereby made a con- 
siderable increase of commerce. 

That the indigo, such as is imported from 
America, should deposite on the wool or stuffs 
the colouring parts required by the dier, it is 
infused several ways, the processes of which 
w^ have already given. They may be reduced 
to three; the cold indigo vat may serve for 
thread and cotton ; those that are made use of 
hot, are tit for scuffs of any kind whatever. 

In the cold vat, the indigo is mixed with 
pearl-ashes, copperas or green vitriol, lime, 
madder, and brah. The hot vats are either 
prepared with water or urine; if with water, 
pearl-ashes, and a little madder must be ad- 
ded ; if v/ith urine, alum and tartar must be 
joined to the indigo. Both of these vats, prin- 
cipally intended for wool, require a moderate 
degree of heat, but at the same time strong 
enough for the wool to take a lasting die, I 
mean such as will withstand the destroying ac- 
tion of the air and sun, the proof of dies. 

I have prepared, as I said before, these 
three vats in small, in cylindrical glass vessels, 
exposed to the light, in order to see what pas- 
sed before the infusion came to a colour, that 



7 6 

is, whether it was green beneath the flurry , at 
the surface, which is a sign of internal fermen- 
tation. I have said that the green colour of the 
liquor is a condition absolutely essential, and 
without which the colour the stuff would take 
would not be a good die, and would almost 
entirely disappear on the least proofs. 

I shall now give a description of the cold in- 
digo vat in small, for the changes are much 
better seen in her, and for this reason, that 
what happens in the two others is not very es- 
sentially different. It is proper to take notice, 
that what I shall call party in this observation 
of experiments, is a measure of the weight of 
four drachms, of all matter either liquid or 
solid, and that it will be this quantity that 
must be supposed, each time that I use that 
word in the detail of these experiments. 

I put three hundred parts of water into a ves- 
sel, containing five hundred and twelve, or 
eight quarts, in which I dissolved six parts of 
copperas, which gave the liquor a yellow die. 
Six parts of pot-ashes were also dissolved by 
themselves in thirty six parts of water. The 
solution made, I digested in it six parts, or 
three ounces, of indigo of St. Domingo well 
ground ; it was left over a very gentle fire three 
hours. The indigo swelled, and taking up a 
larger space, rose from the bottom of this alka- 
line liquor, with which it formed a kind of 
thick syrup, which was blue. This was a 
proof that the indigo was only divided, bjJt 
not dissolved ; for had its solution been perfect^ 



77 

that thick liquor would have been green instead 
of blue ; for all liquor that has been tinged 
blue by a vegetable of any kind, grows green 
on the admixion of an alkaline salt, either con- 
crete or in a liquid form, whether it be a fixed 
or volatile. 

From hence the reason is discovered why in- 
digo does not die a stuff of a lasting blue when 
its liquor is not green 5 for its solution not be- 
ing complete, the alkali cannot act upon these 
first elementary particles - 9 as for example, ic 
acis on the tincture of violets, which isa -per- 
fect solution of the colouring parts of those 
flo vers, which it turns, green in an instant, and 
on ihe first contact. 

I poured this thick blue liquor into the solu- 
tion of vitriol, and after well shaking the mix- 
ture, I added six parts of lime 'that had been 
slacked in the air; it was cold weather when 
this experiment was made ; the thermometer 
was at two degrees under the freezing point, 
wkich was the cause that this was near four 
days coming to a colour, and the fermentation, 
which must naturally ensue in all vitriolic li- 
quor, where an alkaline salt has been put in, 
such as pot-ashes, and an alkaline earth, was car- 
ried on with so much slowness that very lit- 
tle scum appeared on the surface of the liquor. 
In a hot season, and by making use of lime 
ne,v!v calcined, these kind of Vats- ape some- 
times fit to die in four hours. 

Each time I stirred the mixture with a spa- 
tula, I observed that the iron of the vitriol or 

G % 



: * 7 8 

copperas was the first that precipitated to the 
bottom of the vessel, and that the alkaline salt 
had precipitated it, to join itself to the acid. 
Thus in this process of the cold indigo vat, a 
tartar of vitriol after the manner of Tachenius 
is formed ; whereas by the common method of 
preparing this neutral salt, the acid of vitriol is 
poured on a true alkaline salt, such as salt of tar- 
tar or pot-ashes. This again is a circumstance 
that leads insensibly to the theory of the good 
die. I desire the reader to take notice of this, as 
it will occur in the sequel of this observation, as 
Well as in other chapters. 

The earthy parts of the lime precipitate next 
after the iron; they are easily distinguished by 
the whiteness, which are yet difficult to distin- 
guish when the colouring parts of the indigo 
are sufficiently loosened. In short, under this 
white earth the fecula of the indigo deposits 
itself, and by degrees rarifies in such a manner, 
that this substance, which the first day was 
only the eighth of an inch above the precipi- 
tated lime, rose insensibly within half an inch 
of the surface of the liquor, and the third day 
grew so opaque and muddy, that nothing fur- 
ther could be distinguished. 

This rarefaction of the indigo, slow in win- 
ter, quick in summer, and which may be ac- 
celerated in winter by heating the liquor to fif- 
teen or sixteen degrees, is a proof that a real 
fermentation happens in the mixture, which 
opens the little lumps of indigo, and divides 
them into particles of an extreme fineness j 



then their surfaces being multiplied almost ad 
infinitum,^ they are so much the more equally 
distributed in the liquor, which deposus them 
equally on the subject dipped in to take the 
die. 

If fermentation comes on hastily, or in a 
few hours, whether on account of the heat of 
the air, or by the help of a small fire, a great 
quantity of flurry appears ; it is blue, and its 
reflection they have also named coppery, be- 
cause the colours of the rainbow appear in it, 
and the red an i yellow here predominate; how- 
ever th s phenomenon is not peculiar to indi- 
go, since the same reflection is perceived in all 
mixtures that are in actual fermentation, and 
particularly in those which contain fat particles 
blended with salts, urine, soot, and several 
other bodies put into fermentation, show on 
their surface the same variegated colours. 

The flurry of the indigo vat appears blue, 
because exposed to the external air; but if a 
small portion of the liquor which is under it 
be taken up with a spoon, it appears more or 
less green in proportion as it is filled with co- 
louring particles. In the course of this obser- 
vation, I shall show the reason of this dif- 
ference, or, at least, a probable explication of 
this change of blue, which, as 1 have said. be- 
fore, is absolutely necessary for succeeding in 
the process desoiH#i@f 

Wften the vat is in this state, it has already 
been said that cotton, thread, cloths wove 
from <hem, &c. may be died in her, and the 



86 

colours which they take are of the good die -, 
that is, this cotton and thread will maintain 
them, even after remaining a suitable time in 
a solution of white soap, actually boiling. 
This is the proof given them preferable to any 
other, because the linen and cocten cloths must 
be washed with soap when dirty. 

Though the indigo iquor which is in this 
state can make a lasting die without the addition 
of any other ingredients ; the diers who use this 
cold vat add, as in the other hot vats, a decoc- 
tion of madder and bran in common water run 
through a sieve; this is what they call bever. 
They put madder to insure, as they say, the 
colour of the indigo, because this root affords 
a colour so adhesive that it stands all proofs y 
they put the bran to soften the water, which 
they imagine generally to contain some portion 
of an acid salr, which, according to their opi- 
nion, must be deadened. 

This was the opinion of the French diers 
against indigo in the days of Monsieur Col- 
bert ; and as this minister could not spare time 
to see the experiments performed in his pre- 
sence, on the foundation of this report, he for- 
bade indigo to be used lone. But since the 
government has been convinced, by new expe- 
riments made bv the iace Mr. Dufay, that the 
stability of the blue die of this ingredient was 
such as could be desired ; tfie new regulation 
of 1737 licences the diers to use it alone, or 
mixed with woad ; so that if they continue to 
use the madder, it is rather because this root 



8i 

giving a pretty deep red, and this red mixing 
with the blue of the indigo^ gives it a tint 
which approaches the violet, and also a fine 
hue. 

As to the bran, its use is not to deaden the 
pretended acid saks, but to disperse through- 
out a quantity of sizey matter ; for the small 
portion of flour which remains in it, dividing 
irself into the liquor, must diminish in some 
measure its fluidity, and consequently prevent 
the colouring particles which are suspended in 
it, being precipitated too quick, in a liquor 
which had not acquired a certain degree of 
thickness. 

Notwithstanding this distributed through- 
out the liquor, as well from the bran as the 
madder* which also affords something gluti- 
nous, the colouring particles will subside if 
the liquor remains some days without being 
stirred -, then the top of the liquor gives but a 
feeble tint to the body dipped in, and if a 
strong one is wanted, the mixture must be rac- 
ked, and left to rest an hour or two, that che 
iron in the copperas, and the gross parts of 
the lime may fall to the bottom, which other- 
wise would mix with the true colouring parti- 
cles, and prejudice their die, by depositing on 
the body to be died a substance that would 
have but lit le adhesion, which in drying would 
become friable, and of which each minute part 
would occupy a space, where the true colour- 
ing particle could neither introduce nor depo- 



82 

posit irself by an immediate contact on the sub- 
ject. 

Not to deviate from the method followed by 
the Diers, I boiled one part of grape-madder 
and one of bran, in 174 parts of water: this 
proportion of water is not necessary, more or 
less may be put, but I wanted to fill my ves- 
sel, which contained 512 pares. I passed this 
bever through a cloth and : queezed it, putting 
this liquor, still hot, and which was of a blood- 
red, into the indigo liquor, observing the ne- 
cessary precautions to prevent the breaking of 
the glass vessel. The whole was well stirred, 
and two hours after the liquor was green, and 
consequently fit for dieing. It died cotton of 
a lasting blue, somewhat brighter than it was 
before the addition of the red of madder. 

I shall now endeavour to find out the partic- 
ular cause of the solidity of this colour; per- 
haps it may be the general cause of the tenaci- 
ty of all the rest; for it appears already, from 
the experiments above related, that this tenaci- 
ty depends on the choice of salts, which are 
added to the decoctions of the colouring 
ingredients, when the same ingredients con- 
tarn none in themselves. If from the conse- 
quences which shall result from the choice of 
these salts, of their nature, and of their pro- 
perties, it be admitted (and it cannot be fairly 
denied) that they afford more or less tenuity 
in the homogeneous colouring parts of the die- 
ing ingredients, the whole theory of this art- 



§3 

will be discovered, without having recourse to 
uncertain or contested causes. 

One may easily conceive that the sales added 
to the indigo vats nor only open the natural 
pores of the subject to be died, but also unfold 
the colouring atoms of the indigo. 

In the other preparations of dies (to be men- 
tioned hereafter) roe woolen stuffs are boiled 
in a solution of salts, whicn the Dyers call 
preparation. In this preparation tartar and a- 
lum are generally used. In some hours the 
suff is taken out, slightly squeezed, and kept 
damp. for some days in a cool place, that the 
saline liquor which remains in it may still act 
and prepare it for the reception of the die of 
these ingredients, in die decoction of which it 
is plunged to boil again. Without this prepa- 
ration, experience shpws that the colours will 
not be lasting, at least for the greatest part ; 
for it must be owned that there are some in- 
gredients which yield lasting colours, though 
the stuff has not previously undergone this pre- 
paration, because the ingredient contains in it- 
self these salts. 

It is therefore necessary, that the natural 
pores of the fibres of the wool should be en- 
larged and cleansed by the help of those salts, 
which are always somewhat corroding, and 
perhaps they open new pores for the reception 
of the colouring atoms contained in the ingre- 
dients. The boiling of this liquor drives in 
the atoms by repeated strokes. The pores al- 
ready enlarged by these salts, are further dila- 



84 

ted by the heat of the boiling water; they are 
afterwards contracted by the external cold when 
the died matter is taken out of the copper, 
when it is exposed to the external air, or when 
it is plunged into cold water. Thus the colour- 
ing arom is taken in, and detained in the pores 
or fissures of the died body, by the springi- 
ness of its fibres, which have contracted and 
restored themselves to their first state, and have 
re assumed their primary stiffness upon being 
exposed to the cold. 

If, besides this spring of the sides of the 
pore, it be supposed that these sides have been 
plaistered inwardly with a layer of the saline 
liquor, it will appear plainly that this is ano- 
ther means employed by art to detain the co- 
louring atom; for this atom, having enured 
into. the poie, while the saline cement of the 
sides was yet in a state of solution, and conse- 
quently fluid; and this cement being after- 
wards congealed by the external cold, the atom 
is thereby detained ; by the spring which has 
bren mentioned, and by this saline cement, 
which by crystalization is become hard, forms 
a kind of mastic which is not easily removed. 

If the coloured atom, (which is as small as 
the little eminence that appears at the entrance 
of the pore, and without which the subject 
would not appear died) be sufficiently protu- 
berant to be exposed to more powerful shocks 
than the resistance of the sides of the cement 
that retains it, then the die resulting from all 
these atoms sufficiently retained, will be ex- 



tremely lasting, and in the rank of the good 
die, provided the saline coat can neither be 
carried off by cold water, such as rain, nor 
calcined or reduced to powder by the rays of 
the sun ; for every lasting colour, or colour be- 
longing to the good die, must withstand these 
two proofs. No other can reasonably be ex- 
pected in stuffs designed for apparel or furni- 
ture, 

I know but of two salts in chymistry, which, 
being once crystalized, can be moistened with 
cold water without dissolving ; and there are 
few besides these that can remain several days 
exposed to the sun, without being reduced to 
a flour or white powder. These are tartar, 
either as taken from the wine vessels, or puri- 
fied, and tartar of vitriol. The tartar of vi- 
triol may be made by mixing a salt already al- 
kalized, (or that may become such when the 
acid is drove out with a salt whose acid is vi- 
triolic, as copperas and alum); this is easily 
effected if it be weaker than the acid of vitriol, 
and such is the acid of all essential salts ex- 
tracted from vegetables. , 

In the process of the blue vat, which I tried 
in small, to discover the cause of its effects, 
copperas and pot-ash, (which is a prepared al- 
kali) are mixed together; as soon as these so- 
lutions are united, the alkali precipitates the 
iron of the copperas in form of powder almost 
black; the vitriolic acid of the copperas, di- 
vested of its metallic basis by its union with 
he alkali, forms a neutral salt, called tartar 

H 



86 

of vitriol, as when made with the salt of tar- 
tar and the vitriolic acid already separated from 
its basis -, for all alkalis, from whatever vege- 
tables they are extracted, are perfectly alike, 
provided they have been equally calcined. 

More difficulties will occur with regard to 
the water for the preparation of other colours, 
such as reds and yellows. It may be denied 
that a tartar of vitriol can result from the mix- 
ture of alum and crude tartar boiled together; 
yet the theory is the same, and I do not know 
that it can be otherwise conceived. The alum 
is a salt, consisting of the vitriolic acid united 
with an earth ; by adding an alkali, the earth 
is immediately precipitated, and the tartar soon 
forms; but instead of this alkaline salt, alum 
is boiled with the crude tartar, which is.the es- 
sential salt of wine, that is, a salt composed 
of the vinous acid, (which is more volatile 
than the vitriolic) and of oil, both concentra- 
ted in a small portion of earth. 

This salt, as is known to chymists, becomes 
alkali by divesting it of its acid. Thus when 
the alum and crude tartar are boiled together, 
besides the impression which the fibres of the 
stuff to be died receive from the first of these 
salts, which is somewhat corrosive, the tartar 
is also purified, and by the addition of the 
earth, which is separated from the alum, (and 
which has near the same effect upon the tartar, 
as the earth of Merviels, which is used at 
Montpellier in manufacturing cream of tartar) . 
it becomes clear and transparent, It may very 



§7 

probably happen, that the vitriolic acid of the 
alum, driving out a part of the vegetable acid 
of the tartar, a tartar of vitriol may be formed 
as hard and transparent as the crystal of tartar. 
Admitting one or other of these suppositions, 
consequently there is in the open pores of the 
wool a saline cement which crystalizes as soon 
as the stuff which comes out of the die is ex- 
posed to the cold air, which cannot be cal- 
cined by heat, nor is soluble in pold water, I 
could not avoid making this digression. 

This theory is common to the indigo vat, 
where urine is used instead of water ; alum and 
crude tartar in the place of vitriol and pot- 
ashes. This urine vat gives a lasting die only 
when used hot, and then the wool must re- 
main in an hour or two to take the die equally. 
As soon as the vat is cold, she strikes no more 
die ; the reason of this would be difficult- to 
discover in an opaque metal vat ? but in a glass 
vessel it is easily seen. 

I let this little glass proof vat cool, and all 
the green colour, which was suspended in it 
while hot, precipitated little by little to the 
bottom; for then the tartar crystalizing itself, 
and reuniting in heavier masses than its mocu- 
las were during the heat of the liquor, and its 
solution, it sunk to the bottom of the vessel* 
and carried with it the colouring particles. 

When I restored this liquor to its former 
degree of heat, after shaking it, and letting it 
settle a while, I dipped a piece of cloth, which 
I took out one hour after, with as lasting a die 



S8 

as the first ; so that when this vat is used and 
fir to work, the tartar is to be kept in a state 
pi solution, which cannot be done but by a 
pretty strong heat. The alkali of the urine 
greens it, the alum prepares the fibres of the 
wool, and the crystal of tartar secures the 
die by cementing the colouring atoms deposited 
in the ports. 

There still remains a difficulty with respect 
to the indigo vat, in which, neither vitriol, . 
alum, or tartar are used, but only pearl-ashes 
in equal quantity with the indigo, and which is 
pretty b iskly heated to die the wool and 
stuffs. But before I enter into the cause of the 
solidity of its die, which is equal to that of the 
other blue vats where the other salts already 
mentioned enter, I must examine into the na- 
ture of pearl-ashes, which are the lees of wine 
dried and calcined : it is therefore an alkaline 
salt, of the nature of salt of tartar, but less 
pure, as proceeding from the heaviest parts of 
the dregs of wine, and consequently the most 
earthy ; besides, the alkali of the pearl-ashes 
is never as homogeneous as the alkaline salt of 
tartar well calcined, and there are scarcely any 
pearl-ashes not purified, from which a consi- 
derable quantity of tartar of vitriol may not be 
obtained i it is even probable by an experiment 
which I have related, that it might at length be 
entirely converted into this neutral salt; the 
same may be said of pot-ashes, and of all other 
alkaline salts, whose basis are not that of the 
marine salt, 



8 9 

The want of this homogeneous quality, is 
the cause that pearl ashes never fall entirely in- 
to deliquium in the air ; therefore since expe- 
rience shows that there is a tartar of vitriol 
already formed in the pearl-ashes, it is evident 
that this indigo vat, which does not give a 
good die Until the liquor has been so briskly 
heated as not to suffer the hand without scald- 
ing, will dissolve the small portion of tartar of 
vitriol that is contained in it, and consequent- 
ly this salt will introduce itself into the pores 
of the wool to cleanse and cement them, and 
will coagulate therein on the wool being taken 
out of the liquor, and exposed to the air to 
cool. 

I must now give the reason why the indigo 
vat is green under the first surface of the li- 
quor; why this liquor mustt>e green that the 
blue die may be lasting, and why the stuff that 
is taken green out of the liquor becomes blue as 
soon as it is aired. All these conditions being 
of necessity common to all indigo vats either 
cold or hot, the same explication will serve for 
them all. 

i. The flurry which rises on the surface of 
the indigo liquor _when it is fit die is blue, and 
the under part of this scum is green ; these two 
circumstances prove the perfect solution of the 
indigo, and that the alkaline salt is united to 
its colouring atoms since it greens them, for 
without they would remain blue. 

2. These circumstances prove that there is 
also in the indigo a volatile urinous alkali, 

H2 



9° 

which the fixt alkali of the pot- ash, or the alka- 
line earth of the lime displays, and which 
evaporates very shortly after the exposition of 
this scum to the air. The existence of this 
urinous volatile appears plainly by the smell of 
the vat during the fermentation; when stirred, 
or when heated, the smell is sharp, and resem- 
bles that of stinking meat roasted. 

3. In the preparation of the anil, in order to 
separate the fecula, a fermentation is continued 
to putrefaction. All rotten plants are urinous 
This volatile urinous quality is produced by the 
intimate union of salts with the vegetable oil, 
or is owing to a prodigious quantity of insects 
falling on all sides of fermenting plants, and 
attracted by the smell exhaling from them, 
where they live, multiply, and die in them, 
and consequently deposit a number of dead bo- 
dies; therefore to this vegetable substance an 
animal one is united, whose salt is always an 
urinous volatile. This same urinous quality 
exists also in the woad, which is prepared after 
the same manner, viz. by fermentation and 
putrefaction, and which will be further explain- 
ed in the abridged narrative of its preparation, 

4. And lastly, if indigo or woad be distilled 
in a retort, either alone, or (which is much 
better) with some fixed saline or earthy alkali 
added to it, a liquor will be obtained, which, 
by all chymical essays, produces the same ef- 
fects as volatile spirits of urine. 

Why does not this volatile urinous quality 
in the indigo cause it to appear green, since 



9* 

it must be equally distributed through ail its 
parts? And why does indigo, being dissolved 
in plain boiling water, ringt it blue and not 
green? It is because this volatile urinous salt 
is not concreted that it requires another body 
more active than boiling water to drive it out 
of the particles surrounding it; and the solution 
of indigo is never perfected by water alone ^ 
whatever degree of heat is given, it is only di- 
luted, and not dissolved in it. Indeed this de- 
coction of indigo blues the stuffs that are dip- 
ped, but the blue is not equally laid on, and 
boiling water almost instantly discharges it. 1 
shall endeavour to answer this by an example 
drawn from another subject. 

Salt ammoniac, from which ehymists extract 
the most penetrating volatile spirit, has not 
that quick urinous smell by dissolving and 
boiling it in water; either lime, or fixed alka- 
line salt, must be added to disengage the urin- 
ous volatile parts/ In like manner, the indiga 
requires fixed saline, or earthy alkalis, to be 
exactly discomposed, that its volatile urinous, 
salt may be discovered* and that its colouring 
atoms may be reduced probably to their ele- 
mentary minuteness. 

I now come to the second quality required. 
The liquor of the indigo vat must be green, 
that the die may be lasting; for the indiga 
would not be exactly dissolved, if the alkali did 
not act upon it. Its solution not being as perfect 
as it ought to be, its die would be neither equal 
nor lasting ; but as soon as the alkaline salts 



9 2 

act upon it, they must green it ; for an alkali, 
miiced with the blue juice or tincture of any 
plant or flower, immediately turns it green, 
when equally distributed on all its colouring 
parts. But if by evaporation these same parts, 
coloured, or colouring, have re-united them-^ 
selves into hard and compact masses, the alkali 
will not change their colour till it has penetra- 
ted, divided, and reduced them to their primary 
fineness. This is the case with indigo, whose 
fecula is the dry inspissated juice of the anil. 

With respect to the last circumstance, which 
is that the stuff must be green on coming out 
of the liquor, and become blue as soon as it is 
aired, without which, the blue would not be of 
a good die, the following reasons may be 
given : it is taken out green because the liquor 
is green; if it was not, the alkaline salt put 
into the vat would not be equally distributed, 
or the indigo would not be exactly dissolved. 
If the alkali was not equally distributed, the 
liquor contained in the vat would not be 
equally saline : the bottom of this liquor would 
contain all the salt; the upper would be insi- 
pid. In this case, the stuff dipped in would 
neither be prepared to receive the die, nor to 
retain it; but when it is taken out green at the 
end of a quarter of an hour's dipping, it is a 
proof that the liquor was equally saline, and 
equally loaded with colouring atoms; it is 
also a sign, that the alkaline salts have insinu- 
ated themselves into the pores of the fibres of 
the stuff and enlarged them> as has been ob- 



93 

served, and perhaps have formed new ones. 
Now there can be no doubt that an alkaline salt 
may have this effect on a woolen stuff, when 
it is evidenc that a very sharp alkaline ley burns 
and dissolves almost in an instant a flock of 
wool or a feather. 

A process in dieing called, by the French, 
fonte de bourre^ that is, the melting or dissol- 
ving of flock or hair, is still a further example. 
The hair, which is used and boiled in a solu- 
tion of pearl-ashes in urine, is so perfectly dis- 
solved as not to leave the least fibre remaining. 
Therefore if a lixivium, extremely sharp, en- 
tirely destroys the wool, a ley which shall have 
but a quantity of alkaline salt sufficient to act 
on the wool without destroying it, will prepare 
the pores to receive and preserve the colouring 
atoms of the indigo. 

The stuff is aired after being taken green out 
of the vat, and after wringing it becomes blue. 
What is done by airing ? it is cooled ; if it is 
the urinous volatile detached from the indigo 
which gave it this green colour, it evaporates, 
and the blue appears again ; if it is the fixed 
alkaline that causes this green, not only the 
greatest part is carried off by the strong ex- 
pression of the stuff, but what remains can have 
no more action on the colouring part, because 
the small atom of tartar of vitriol, which con- 
tains a coloured atom sriil less than itself, is 
crystalized the instant of its exposition to the 
cold air, and contracting this same colouring 
atom by the help of the spring at the sides of 



94 

the pore, it entirely presses out the remainder 
of the alkali, which does not crystalize as a 
neural salt. 

The blue is roused, that is, it beeomes 
brighter and finer by soaking the died stuff in 
warm water, for then the colouring particles, 
which had only a superficial adherence to the 
fibres of the wool, are carried off. Soap is 
used as a proof of the lasting of the blue die, 
and it must stand it, for the soap, which is only 
used in a small quantity in proportion to the 
water, and whose action on the died pattern is 
fixed to five minutes, is an alkali, mitigated by 
the oil, which cannot act upon a neutral salt. 
If it discharges the pattern of any part of its 
colour, it is because its parts were but superfi- 
cially adhering; besides, the little saline crys- 
tal which is set in the pore,, whose u.se is to 
cement the colouring atom, cannot be dissolved 
in so short a time, so as to come out of the pore 
with the atom it retains. 

This treatise lays down the essay of a method 
of dieing different from any hitherto offered. I 
appeal to philosophers, who would think little 
of a simple narative of processes, if I did not at 
the same time give their theory. I shall follow 
this method in the other experiments on reds, 
the yellows, or other simple colours, as it is 
absolutely necessary to have a knowledge of 
them before entering on the compound, as 
these are generally but colours laid on one af- 
ter the other, and seldom mixed together in the 
same liquor or decoction. 



95 

Thus having once the knowledge of what 
procurer the tenacity of a simple colour, it 
will be more easily known, if the second co- 
lour can take place in the spaces the first have 
left empty without displacing the first. 

This is the idea which I have formed to my- 
self of the arrangement of different colours 
laid on the same stuff, for it appears to me a 
matter of great difficulty to conceive that the 
colouring atoms can place themselves the one 
on the other, and thus form kinds of pyramids, 
each still preserving their colour, so that from 
a mixture of the whole a compound colour 
shall result, and which, notwithstanding, shall 
appear uniform, and as it were homogeneous. 
To adopt this system, we must suppose a 
transparency in these atoms, which it would be 
difficult to demonstrate; and further, that a 
yellow atom must place itself immediately on 
a blue one, already set in the pore of the fibre 
of a stuff, and that it must remain there 
strongly bound, so that they must touch each 
other with extreme smooth surfaces, and so 
with every new colour laid on. 

It is not easy to conceive all this, and it ap- 
pears more probable, that the first colour has 
only taken up the pores that it found open by 
the first preparation of the fibres of the stuff; 
that on the side of these pores there remains 
more still to be filled, or at least spaces not 
occupied, where new pores may be opened to 
lodge the new atoms of a second colour, by 
the means of a second preparation of water, 



9 6 

composed of corroding salts, which being the 
same as those of the first preparing liquor, will 
not destroy the first saline crystals introduced 
into the first pores. 

What has been already said with regard to 
the indigo vat, may also serve to explain the 
action of the woad vat on wool and stuffs ; it 
is only supposing in the woad, that salts do 
naturally exist, pretty near of affinity to those 
that are added to the indigo vat. It appears 
by the description given of these vats, that the 
woad vat is by much the most difficult to con- 
duct. I am convinced that these difficulties 
might be removed, if an attempt was made to 
prepare the isatisas the anil is in the West In- 
dies. I shall therefore compare their different 
preparations. I have taken the following nara- 
tive from the memoirs of Mr. Asiruc's His- 
toire Naturelle du Languedoc. Paris, Cava- 
lier 1737, in 4to, p. 330 and 331. 

" According to the opinion of diers, woad 
€C only gives feeble and languishing colours; 
cf whereas those of the indigo are lively and 
<c bright. This opinion I grant is conform- 
cc able to reason: the indigo is a fine subtle 
<f powder ; consequently capable to penetrate 
<c the stuffs easily, and give them a shining co- 
cc lour. The woad, on the contrary, is only a 
cc gross plant, loaded with many earthy parts, 
" which slacken the action and motion of the 
cc finer parts, and prevent them from acting 
cf effectually. 



97 

cc I know but one way to remove this incoh- 
<c v'eniency, that is, to prepare the woad after 
Cf the same manner the indigo is prepared § by 
* c this means, the colours obtained from the 
"woad would acquire the lively and bright 
" qualities of those procured from the indigo, 
" without diminishing in the least the excel- 
<f lency of the colours produced by the woad. 

" I have already made in small* experiments 
cf on what I propose, and those experiments 
cc have succeeded, not only in the preparation 
cf of the pow ier of woad, but also in the use 
cc of this powder for dicing." 

It is incumbent on those who have the pub- 
lic good at heart, to cause trials at large to be 
made, and if they have the success that can 
reasonably be expected, it will be proper to en- 
courage those who Cultivate woad,' to follow 
this new method of preparing it, and off r pre- 
miums to enable them to sustain the expenses 
this new practice will engage them in, until 
the advantage they will reap from it may be 
sufficient to determine them to follow it. 

I shall now propose the means to succeed in 
Mr. Astruc's experiments, and these means na- 
turally result from considering the method used 
in Languedoc for the preparation of woad, 
and the ingenious method by which they sepa- 
rate thefecula of the anil in America. I have 

# As this ingenious man has succeeded in small experi- 
ments, it is probable he would also in the large ones ; and then 
this plant easily cultivated in England, would well recom- 
pence the pains of the husbandman. 

i 



9 8 

already given the preparation of this last ; those 
who desire a fuller description may consult 
V Hist aire des Antilles du P. du Tertre £5? du P. 
Labat. The following preparation of the pas- 
tel, or garden woad, is thus described by Mr. 
Astruc. 

The manufacturing of Pastel, or Garden Woad 
in France. 



Peasants of Abbigevois distinguish two 
kinds of woad seed : the one v-olet colour, the 
other yellow ; they prefer the former, because 
the woad that shoots from it bears leaves that 
are smooth and polished, whereas those that 
spring from the yellow are hairy; this fills 
them with earth and dust, which makes the 
woad prepared from them of a wor^e qua- 
lity. This woad is called pastelfourg, or bour- 
daigne. 

The woadj at first shoots five or six leaves 
out of the ground, which stand upright whilst 
green ; they are a foot long, and six inches 
broad; they begin to ripen in June; they are 
known to be ripe by their falling down and 
growing yellow; they are then gathered, and 
the ground cleared from weeds, which is care- 
fully repeated each crop. 

If there has bfeen rain, a second crop is ob- 
tained irSfely'; raitlor dry weather advances 
or retards %eight days. The third crop is at 
the latter end of August; a fourth the larter 
end of September ; and the fifth and last about 



99 

the tenth of November. This last crop is th* 
most considerable, the interval being longer* 
The plant at this crop is cut at the root from 
whence the leaves spring. This woad is not 
good, and the last crop is forbid by the "regu- 
lations. The woad is not to be gathered in 
foggy or rainy weather, but in serene weather, 
when -the sun has been out some time. 

At each crop the leaves are brought to the 
mill to be ground, and reduced to a fine paste; 
this is to be done speedily, for the leaves when 
left in a heat ferment, and soon rot with an in- 
tolerable stench. These mills are like the oil 
or bark-mills, that is, a mill-stone turns round 
a perpendicular pivot in a circular grove or 
trough, pretty deep, in which the woad is 
ground. 

The leaves thus mashed and reduced to a 
paste, are kept up in the galleries of the mill, 
or in the open air. After pressing the paste 
well with the hands and feet, it is beat down 
and made smooth with a shovel. This is cal- 
led the woad piled. 

An outward crust forms, which becomes 
blackish ; when it cracks, great care must be 
taken to close it again. Little worms will 
generate in these crevices and spoil it. The 
pile is opened in a fortnight, well worked be- 
tween the hands, and the crust well mixed with 
the inside; sometimes this crust requires to be 
beat with a mallet to knead it with the rest. 

This paste is then made into small loaves or 
round balls, which according to the regula- 



100 

tions, muse weigh a pound and a quarter. 
These balls are well pressed in the making, 
and are then given to another, who kneads them 
again in a wooden dish, lengthens them at 
both ends, making them oval and smooth. 
Lastly, they are given to a third, who finishes 
them in a lesser bowl dish, by pressing and 
perfectly uniting them. 

The pastel or woad thus prepared is called 
Pastel en Cocaigne ; whence arises the proverb, 
Pais de Cocaigne ; which signifies a rich coun- 
try, because this country* where the woad 
grows, enriched itself formerly by the com- 
merce of this drug. 

These balls f are spread on* hurdles, and 
exposed to the sun in fine weather ; in bad 
weather they are put at the top of the mill. 
The woad that has been exposed some hours 
to the sun, becomes black on the outside, 
whereas that which has been kept within doors 
is generally yellowish, particularly if the wea- 
ther has been rainy. The merchants prefer 
the former; this makes little difference as to 
its use; it is in general always yellowish, as the 
peasants mostly work it in rainy weather when 
they cannot attend their rural employments. 

In summer, these balls are commonly dry in 
fifteen or twenty clays, whereas in autumn those 
of the last crop are long in drying, 

# V Abigeois & Lauragois. 

f There is a place in India , the name I do not recollect* 
where the anil is prepared after the manner of the woad, and 
the indigo comes from it in lumps, containing all the useless 
parts of this plant. It is very difficult to prepare a blue vat 
with it. 



101 

The good balls when broke are of a violet 
colour within, and have an agreeable smell; 
whereas those that are of an earthy colour and 
a bad smell, are not good - 9 this proceeds from 
the gath ring of the woad during the rain, 
when the leaves were filled with earth. Their 
goodness is also known by their weight, being 
light, when they have taken too much air, or 
rotten by not having been sufficiently pressed. 

Powder of Woad* 

Of these balls well prepared, the powder of 
woad is to be made ; for this purpose a hun- 
dred thousand at least are required. A distant 
barn or a warehouse must be procured, larger 
or smaller according to the quantity intended 
to be made. In must be paved with bricks 
and lined with the same, to the height of four 
or five feet ; the walls would be better to be of 
stone to that height, yet often the walls are on- 
ly coated with earth ; this coat breaking off and 
mixing with the woad is a great prejudice to it. 
In this place the balls are reduced to a gross 
powder with large wooden mallets. This pow- 
der is heaped up to the height of four feet, re- 
serving a space to go round, and is moistened 
with water; that which is slimy* is best provi- 

* I can see no reason why slimy water,, and yet to be clear^; 
is preferred. It appears to me that clear river water would be 
more secure 5 with this they would avoid the inconveniences 
that must attend a standing water, always filled with filth 5 
or or a muddy water, wh ch contains useless earth, and which 
most make the die uneven, 



101 

ded it be clear; the woad thus moistened, fer- 
mcnrs, heats, and emits a very thick stinking 
vapour. 

Ir. is stirred every day for twelve days, fling- 
ing it by shovels full from one side to the other, 
and moistening it every day during that time; 
after which no more water is flung on, but on- 
ly stirred every second day; then every third, 
fourth, and fifth ; it is then heaped up in the 
middle of the place, and looked at from time 
to time to air it in case it should heat. This 
is the pastel or garden woad powder fit for sale 
to the Diers. 

Mr. Astruc, to prove that the sale of woad 
formerly enriched the higher Languedoc, 
quotes the following passage from a book en- 
titled Le. March and. 

cc Formerly they transported from Toulouze 
to Bourdeaux, by the river Garonne, each 
year a hundred thousand bales of woad, which 
on the spot are worth at least fifteen livres a 
bale, which amounts to i, 500, 000 livres ; 
from whence proceeded the abundance of mo- 
ney and riches of that country." Castel in his 
Memoirs de V Histoire du Languedoc> in 1633, 

P. 49- 

The comparing of these two methods of 
preparing the woad and indigo may be suffi- 
cient to a person of understanding, who might 
be appointed to try, by experiments, the pos- 
sibility of extracting a fecula from the isatis of 
Languedoc like that of the anil. It is neither 
the Dier or Manufacturer k that ought be appli- 



io 3 

ed to for that purpose -, both would p condemn 
the project as a novelty, and it would require 
many experiments, which in general they are 
not accustomed to. 

I could wish this experiment was tried in 
great, fo that at least fifty pound of this fecula 
might be got, that several vats might be sec 
in case the. first should fail. Whosoever does 
try it, should be very careful to describe all 
the circumstances of the process. Perhaps it 
might not succeed at the first crop of the leaves 
of the woad, because the heat in June is not 
sufficient, but probably he might meet with 
success in August. 

If this succeeds, there are without doubt 
several other plants of the same quality as the 
isatis, and which yields a like fecula. 

It is also probable that the dark green of se- 
veral plants is composed of yellow and blue 
parts; if by fermentation the yellow could be 
destroyed the blue would remain. This is not 
a chimerical idea, and it is easy to prove that 
some use might be derived from such an ex- 
periment. 



i n .* 



CHAPTER VI II. 



OF RED, 

RED, as has been said, is one of the prf- 
•nary or mother colours of the diers. In 
the great die there are four principal reds, 
which are the basis of the rest. These are. 

i. Scarlet of grain. 2. The scarlet, now 
in use, or flame-coloured scarlet, formerly cal- 
led Dutch scarlet. 3. The crimson red. And, 

4. The madder red. 

There are also the bastard scarlet and the 
bastard crimson; but as these are only mix- 
tures of the principal reds, they ought not to 
be considered as particular colours. 

The red, or nacaret of iourre\ was for- 
merly permitted in the great die. 

All these different reds have their particu- 
lar shades from the deepest to the lightest, but 
they form separate classes, as the shades of the 
one never fall into those of the other. 

The reds are worked in a different manner 
from the blues, the wool or stuffs not being 
immediately dipped in the die, but previously 

* This colour is given with weld and goat's hair boiled in 
pot-ashes, and is a bright orange red* 



io 5 

receiving a preparation which gives them no 
colour, but prepares them to receive that of 
the colouring ingredient. 

This is called the water of preparation \ it 
is commonly made with acids, such as sour 
waters, alum and tartar, aqua forti?, aqua re- 
galis, &c. These preparing ingredients are 
used in different quantities, according to the 
colour and shade required. Galls are also of- 
ten used, and sometimes alkaline salts. This 
I shall explain in the course of this treatise, 
when I come to the method of working each 
of these colours. 

CHAPTER IX. 



OF SCARLET OF GRAIN. 

THIS colour is called scarlet of grain, be- 
cause it is made with the kermes, which 
was long thought to be the grain of the tree 
on which it is found. It was formerly called 
French scarlet, imagining it to be first found 
out in France, and is now known by the name 
of Venetian scarlet, being much in use there, 
and more made than in any other place. The 
fashion passed from thence into France and 
other countries. It has indeed le s lustre, and 
is. browner than the scarlet now in fashion ; but 
it has the advantage of keeping its brightness 
longer, and does not spot by mud or aqid li- 
quors. 



io6 

The kermes is a gall insect, which is bred, 
lives, and multiplies upon the ilex accukato 
cocci glandiscra> C. B. P. Some comes from 
Narbonne, but greater quantities from Alicant 
and Valentia, and the peasants of Languedoc 
yearly bring it to Montpelier and Narbonne. 
The merchants who buy them to send abroad, 
spread them on cloths, and sprinkle them with 
vinegar, in order to kill the little insects that 
are within, which yield a red powder, which 
is separated from the shell after drying, an* i is 
then passed through a sieve j this is done par- 
ticularly in Spain. 

They tften make it up in bales, and in the 
middle of each a quantity of this powder is in- 
closed in a leather bag, in proportion to the 
whole bale. Thus each dier has his due pro- 
portion of this powder. These bolts are ge- 
nerally sent to Marseilles, from whence they 
are exported to the Levant, Algiers, and Tu- 
nis, where it is greatly made use of in die- 
ing. 

The red draperies of the figures in the an- 
cient tapestry of Brussels, and other manufac- 
tories of Flanders, are died with this ingre- 
dient ; and some that have been wrought up- 
wards of two hundred years, have scarcely lost 
any thing of the brightness of rhe colour. I 
shall now proceed to give the method of 
making this scarlet of grain, which is now 
seldom used but for wools designed for ta- 
pestry. 



io 7 



Preparation of the Wool for Scarlet of Grain. 

Twenty pounds of wool and half a bushel 
of bran are put into a copper, with a sufficient 
quantity of water, and suffered to boil h.slf an 
hour, stirring it every now and then ; it is then 
taken. out to drain. 

It is necessary to observe, that whenever 
spun wool is to be died, a stick is passed 
through each hank (which commonly weighs 
one pound) and they remain on the stick du- 
ring the course of the work to prevent their 
entangling. This stick also enables the dier to 
return the hanks with more ease, by piunging 
each part successively in the liquor, by which 
they take an equal die \ by raising the hank 
with a stick, and drawing it half-way out of 
the copper, seizing the other end of the hank 
with the other hand, it is plunged towards the 
bottom. If the wool be too hot, this may be 
done with two sticks, and the oftener this is 
repeated, the more even will be the die; the 
ends of the sricks are then placed on two poles 
to drain. These poles are fixed in the wall 
above the copper. 

Liquor for the Kermes. 

While this prepared wool is draining, the 
copper is empried, and fresh water put n, to 
which is added about a fifth of sour water, 
four pounds of Roman alum grossly powder- 



io8 

ed, and twQ pounds of red tartar. The whole 
is brought to boil, and that instant the hanks 
are dipped in (on the sticks) which are to re- 
main in for two hours, stirring them continu- 
ally one after the other after the method already 
laid down. 

I must in this place observe, that the liquor 
in which the alum is put, when on the point of 
boiling sometimes rises sr> suddenly that it 
comes over the copper, if not prevented by 
adding cold water. If, when it is rising, the 
spun wool is instantly put in, it stops it, and 
produces the same effects as cold water. 
• The liquor does not rise so suddenly when 
there is a large quantity of tartar, as in the 
process ; but when the alum is used alone, 
sometir.es above half the liquor comes over 
the copper when it begins to boil, if not pre- 
vented by the method described. 

Wherj the wool has boiled two hours in this 
liquor, it is taken out, left to drain, gently 
■squeezed, and pur into a linen bag in a cool 
place for five or six days, and sometimes longer; 
this is called leaving the wool in preparation. 
This is to make it penetrate the better, and 
helps to augment the action of the salts, for as 
a part of the liquor always flies off, it is evi- 
dent that the remaining, being fuller of saline 
particles, becomes more active, provided there 
remained a sufficient juannty o) humidity ; for 
the salts being crystaiized and dry, would have 
no more action, 



109 

I have dwelled much longer on this pre- 
paring liquor, and the method of miking it, x 
than I shall in the sequel, as there are a great 
number of colours for which it is prepared 
pretty near in the same proportion, so that 
when this happens, I shall slightly describe it, 
mentioning only the changes that are to be 
made ' in the quantity of alum, tartar, sour 
water, or other ingredients. 

After the spun wool has been covered five 
or six days, it is fitted to receive the die. A 
fresh liquor is then prepared according to the 
quantity of wool to be died, and when it be- 
gins to be lukewarm, take 12 ounces of pow- 
dered kermes for each pound of wool to be 
died, if a full and well-coloured scarlet is 
wanted. If the kermes was old and fiat, a 
pound of it would be required to each pound 
of wool. When the liquor begins to boil, the 
yarn (still moist, which it will be if it has 
been well wrapped in the bag, and kept in a 
cool place) is put in. If it had been boiled a 
long time before, and grown dry, it must be 
lightly passed through lukewarm water, and 
well squeezed before it is died. 

Previous to its being dipped in the copper 
with the kermes, a handful of wool is cast in, 
which is let to boil for a minute : this takes up 
a kind of black scum, which the kermes cast 
up, by which the wool that is afterwards dip- 
ped acquires a finer colour. This handful of 
wool being taken out, the prepared is to be 
put in. The hanks are passed on sticks as in 

K 



no 

the preparation, continually stirring, and air- 
ing them one after the other. It must boil 
after this manner an hour at least, then taken 
out and placed on the poles to drain, after- 
wards wrung and washed. 

The die still remaining in the liquor, may 
serve to dip a little fresh parcel of prepared 
wool ; it will take some colour in proportion 
to the goodness and quality of the ktrmes put 
into the copper. 

When different shades are wanted, a less 
quantity of kermes is used, so that for twenty 
pounds of prepared wool seven or eight are 
sufficient. 

The quantity of wool that is to have the 
lightest shade is first to be dipped, and to re- 
main no longer in than the time sufficient to 
turn it and make it take the die equally. Then 
the next deepest shade intended is dipped, and 
left to remain some time longer; after this 
manner the work is continued to the lasb which 
is left as long as requisite to acquire the neces- 
sary .^hade. 

The reason of working the lightest shades 
first, is, that if the yarn is left too long in, no 
damage is done, as that hank may serve for a 
deeper shade; whereas, if they begin by a 
deeper, there would be no remedy if a failure 
happened in some of the lighter shades. The 
same caution is to be taken in all colours 
whose shades are to be different. 

There are seldom more shades than one from 
the colour now spoken of; but a the working 



I II 

part is the same for all colours, what has been 
said on this subject will serve for the rest. 

The yam thus died, before bringing it to 
the river, may be passed through lukewarm 
water, in which a small quantity of soap has 
been perfectly dissolved ; this gives a bright- 
ness to the colour, but at the same time sad- 
dens it a little, that is, gives it a little cast of 
the crimson. As I shall often make use of 
the terms rouzing and saddening^ especially in 
the acids, it is necessary to explain their 
meaning. 

Saddening^ is giving a crimson or violet cast 
to red \ soap and alkaline salts, such as ley of 
ashes, pot-ashes, lime, sadden reds; thus they 
serve to bring them to the shade required 
when too bright, and that they are too mucii 
rouzed. 

Rouzingy is doing quite the reverse ; it is 
giving a fire to the red, by making it border 
on the yellow or orange. This is performed on 
wool by the means of acids, as red or white 
tartar, cream of tartar, vinegar, lemon juice, 
and aqua fortis. These acids are added more 
or less, according to the depth of the orange 
colour required. For example, if the scarlet 
of grain was wanted to be more bright, and 
approach somewhat nearer to common scarlet, 
a little of the scarlet composition, which shall 
be spoken of, must be poured into the liquor 
after the kermes is put in, and the brown co- 
lour of that liquor would immediately be bright- 
ened by the acid, and become of a brighter 



1 12 

red ; the wool dipped in would be more liable 
to be spotted by mud and acid liquors: the 
reason will appear in the next chapter. 

I have made various experiments on this co- 
lour, in order to make it fitter and brighter 
than what it generally is, but I never could ex- 
tract a red that was to be compared to that of 
cochineal. 

Of all the liquors which I made for the pre- 
paration of the wool, that which was made 
with the preparations just mentioned succeed- 
ed best. By changing the natural die of the 
kermes, by different kinds of ingredients of 
metallic solutions, &c. various colours are 
made,- which I shall immediately speak of. 

I shall say but little about dieing stuffs with 
this red, as the proportion cannot be prescribed 
for each yard of stuff, on account of their 
breadth and thickness, or the quantity of wool 
entering their composition ; practice alone will 
teach the necessary quantity for each sort of 
stuff j however, not to work in the dark, or to 
try experiments at random, the surest way will 
be to weigh the stuffs, and to diminish about 
one-fourth part of the colouring ingredients 
laid down for spun wool, as stuffs take up less 
colour inwardly, their texture being more com- 
pact, prevents its penetration, whereas yarn or 
wool in the fleece receives it equally within 
and without. - 

The alum and tartar for the liquor of prepa- 
ration for the stuffs must be diminished in the 
same proportion, and they are not to remain 



m 

in the preparing liquor as long as the wool. 
It may be died the next day after boiling. 

If wool in the fleece is died with the red of 
the kermes, either to incorporate it with cloths 
of a mixed colour, or to make full cloths, it 
will have a much finer effect than if the wool 
had been died in the red of madder, I shall 
mention this in describing the compound co- 
lours in which the kermes is used, or ought at 
least to be used in preference to madder, 
which does nor give so fine a red, but, being 
cheaper, is commonly substitutied for it. 

Half grain scarlet, or bastard scarlet, is 
that which is made of equal parts of kermes 
and madder. This mixture affords a very 
holding colour, not bright, but inclining to a 
blood red. It is prepared and worked in the 
same manner as that made of kermes alone* 
This die is much cheaper, and the diers com- 
monly make it less perfect by diminishing the 
kermes and augmenting the madder. 

By the proofs that have been made of scar- 
let of grain or kermes, whether by exposing it 
to the sun, or by different proofs, it is certain 
there is not a more holding or a better colour; 
yet the kermes is no where in use but at Venice. 
The mode of this colour has been entirely out 
since the making of flame-coloured scarlets. 
This scarlet of grain is now called a colour of 
bullock's blood : nevertheless,, it has great ad- 
vantages over the other, for it neither blackens 
nor spots, and grease may be taken out with— 
out prejudice to its colour;, but it is out of 

K 2 



ii4 

fashion and that is sufficient. This has entire- 
ly put a scop to the consumption of kermes in 
France. Scarce a Dier knows it, and when 
Monsieur Colbert wanted a certain quantity 
for the experiments above related, he was 
obligee! to send for it to Languedoc, the mer- 
chants of Paris keeping only a sufficiency for 
medicinal purposes. 

When a Dier is obliged to die a piece of 
cloth, known yet under the name of scarlet of 
grain, as he has neither the knowledge of the 
kermes, nor the custom of using it, he makes it 
of a cochineal, as I shall relate in the following 
chapter ; it comes dearer, and is less holding 
than that made of the kermes. The same is 
done in regard to span wool designed for ta- 
pestries, and as this shade is pretty difficult to 
hit with cochineal, they commonly mix brazil 
wood, which hitherto has been a false ingre- 
dient, permitted only in the lesser die. For 
this reason all these kind of reds fade in a very 
short time, and though they are much brighter 
than required, coming out of the hands of the 
workman, they lose all their brightness before 
the expiration of a year: they whiten or become 
exceeding grey ; it is therefore to be wished 
that the use of Vermes was again established. 

it is also certain, that if some Dier set about 
using it, there are several colours that might 
be extracted from it with more ease and less ex- 
pence than the common method ; for these co- 
lours would be better and more holding, and he 
would thereby acquire a greater reputation, I 



**5 

have made above fifty experiments with the 
k^roies, fro n which some use in practice may 
aribc ; I shall only relate such as have produ- 
ced the most singular colours. 

By mixing the kermes with cream of tartar, 
without alum, and as much of the composition 
as woul J be used for the making of scarlet 
with cochineal, you have in one liquor an ex- 
ceeding bright cinnamon, for nothing but the 
acid entering in the mixture, the red parts of 
the kermes become so minute that they almost 
escape the sight. But if this cinnamon colour 
be passed through a liquor of Roman alum, 
part of this red appears again ; whether it be 
by the addition of the alum that drives out a 
part of the acid of the composition, or the 
earth of the alum precipitated by the astriction 
of the kermes, which has the effect of galls, I 
know not ; but this red thus restored is not 
fine. 

With cream of tartar (the composition for 
scarlet) and akim, in grearer quantity than 
tartar, the kermes gives a lilac colour, which 
varies according as the proportion of ingre- 
dients are changed* 

If in the place of alum and tartar, ready 
prepared tartar of vitriol is substituted, which 
is a very hard salt, resulting from the mixture 
of the vitriolic acid and a fixed alkali, such as 
the oil of tartar, pot ashes, &c. and if, I say, 
after boiling the kermes in a solution of a small 
quantity of this salt, the stuff be dipped in and 
boiled one hour, it acquires a tolerable hand- 



lib 

some agaih grey, and in which very iittle red 
is sten, for the acid of the composition having 
too much divided the red of the kermes, and 
trie tartar of vitriol, not containing the earth of 
the alum, it could not re unite these red atoms, 
dispersed by precipitation. These agath greys 
are of the good die, for, as I have observed in 
the chapter treating of indigo, the tartar of vi- 
triols a hard salt, which js not calcined by 
the sun, and is indissoluble in rain water, 

Glauber salts mixed with the kermes entirely 
destroy its red, and give an earthy grey that 
does not stand the proof, for tftis salt neither 
resists cold water nor the rays of the sun, which 
reduce it into powder. Vitriol .or green cop- 
peras, and blue vitriol separated substituted 
for alum, but joined to the crystal of tartar, 
equally destroy or veil the red of the kermes, 
which in these two experiments produce the 
same effect as if galls or sumach had been 
made use of ; for it precipitates the iron of the 
green vitriol, and dies the cloth o? a grey brown, 
and the copper of the blue vitriol dies it of an- 
olive. 

Instead of blue vitriol, I used a solution of 
copper* in aqua fortis, which also produced an 
olive colour j a convincing proof that the ker- 
mes has the precipitating quality of the galls, 
since it precipitates die copper of the vitriol as 
a decoction of gall-nut would. 

There is great probability that what renders 
the red of the kermes -as holding as that of 

* Verdigrise, 



ii7 

madder, is from the insects feeding on an as- 
tringent shrub, which, notwithstanding the 
changes made by the digestion of the juices of 
the plant, still retains the astringent quality of 
the vegetable, and consequently the virtue, 
and so gives a greater spring to the pores of the 
wool to contract themselves quicker and with 
greater strength, when it comes out of the 
boding water, and is exposed to the cold air; 
for I haw.- observed that all barks, roots, wood, 
fru 's, and other matters that have some astric- 
tion, yield colours of the good die. 

Violets without Blue. 

The white vitriol of goslar, whose basis is 
thezinck, being joined with the crystal of tar- 
tar, changes the red of the kermes into violet. 
Tnuh with one colouring ingredient, and sim- 
ple changes, violets are made without a blue 
ground ; for this compound colour, hitherto 
only obtained by putting a blue on a red, or a 
red on a blue, is made as well with cochineal, 
or even with madder, a$ shall bt shown treat- 
ing of these two ingredients. White vitriol 
being extracted from a mine, containing lead, 
arsemc, and several other matters, whose re- 
crements melted afterwards with sand and alka- 
line salis, vitrifies into a blue mass, called 
safre* I suspected the white -vitriol might con- 
tain 4 portion of this blue, which, with the 
red of the kermes, might have changed to a 
violet and consequently that the mine of the 



n8 

bismuth, which really contains this blue mat- 
ter, and the bismuth itself would produce the 
same effect as white vitriol ; neither was I mis- 
taken in my conjecture; for having put some 
of the extract of the mine of bismuth in the li- 
quor of kermes, and some of the solution of 
the bismuth itself upon another decoction of 
the same ingredient, they both died cloth of a 
violet colour. I shall not here give the pro- 
cess of extracting the mine of bismuth, for it 
is a difficult operation for a dier. However, 
if the reader is desirous to know what I mean 
by the extraction of the mine of bismuth, he 
will find the process in the Royal Academy of 
Sciences for the year 1 737^ where there is a 
memoir on sympathetic inks. As to the solu- 
tion of bismuth, which produces almost the 
same effect, it is made after the following 
manner : 

Take four parts of spirits of nitre, and 
four parts of very clear water, which mix to- 
gether, and dissolve therein one part of bis- 
muth, or tin glass, broken in small pieces, 
put the last little by little into the liquor, lest 
they should occasion too violent a fermenta- 
tion. Acids put in too great abundance in the 
liquor of the kermes, whether it be spirits of 
vitriol, aqua fortis, vinegar, lemon juice, even 
sour water, so greatly divide thre red colouring 
particles, that tlic cloth receives but a cinna- 
mon colour, bordering on the aurora, if there 
is too much acid, and a little redder if there is 
less. 



ii 9 

Fixed alkaline salts, mixed with sour water 
and cream of tartar, in the place of alum, do 
not destroy the red of the kermes as acids do, 
but saddens and muds it if too much be put in, 
so that the cloth receives only a faded lilac 
colour. 

Other experiments, still more diversified than 
those here related, presented an infinite variety 
of colours, but nothing more beautiful than 
what may be done with cheaper drugs than the 
kermes ; I shall therefore pass them over. 



CHAPTER X. 



QF FLAME-COLOURED SCARLET. 



FLAME-coloured scarlet, that is, bright- 
coloured scarlet, known formerly under 
the name of Dutch scarlet, (the discovery of 
which Kunkel atrributes to Kuster, a German 
chymist) is the finest and brightest colour of 
the die. It is also the most costly, and one of 
the hardest to bring to perfection. It is not 
easy to determine the point of perfection, for, 
independent of different tastes concerning the 
choice of colours, there are also general fancies, 
which make certain colours more in fashion at 
one time than another; when this happens, 
fashionable colours become perfect ones. For- 



120 

nierly scarlets were chosen full, deep, and of 
a degree of brightness which the sight easily 
bore. At this time they must be on the 
orange, full of fire, and of a brightness which 
dazzle* the eye. I shall not decide which of 
these two fashions deserve the preference, but 
shall give the method of making them both, 
and ail the shades which hold a medium be- 
tween these extremes. 

Cochineal, which yields this beautiful co- 
lour, and is also called mestick, or tescalle, is 
an insect that is gathered in great quantities in 
Mexico. The natives and Spaniards, who 
have but small establishments there, cultivate 
them, that is, carefully gather them from the 
plant on which rhey feed before the rainy sea- 
son. They kiil and dry those designed for 
sale, and preserve the rest to multiply when 
the bad season is over. This insect feeds and 
breeds upon a kind of prickly opuntia, which 
they call topal. It may be preserved in a dry 
place for ages without spoiling. 

The cochineal sylvestre, or campessiane, is 
also brought from- Vera-Cruz. The Indians 
of Old and New Mexico gather this kind in 
the wood- ; it feeds, grows, and generates 
there on the wild uncultivated opuntias ; it is 
there exposed in the rainy season to all the hu- 
midity of the air, and dies naturally. This 
cochineal is always smaller than the fine or cul- 
tivated ; the colour is more holding and better, 
but has not the same brightness, neither is it 
profitable to use it, since it requires four parts, 



121 

and sometimes more, to do what may be done 
with one of fine. 

Sometimes they have damaged cochineal at- 
Cadiz ; this is fine cochineal that has been wet- 
ted with salt water, occasioned by some ship- 
wreck or leakage. These accidents consider 
ably diminish the price, the sea salt saddening 
the die. This kind serves only to make pur- 
ples, and even those are not the best. How- 
ever, a person in 1735 found the secret to tura 
this to almosr as much advantage for scarlet as 
the finest cochineal. The discovery of this 
secret is easy, but let him that possesses it en- 
joy it, I shall not deprive him of the advantage 
he might have in it. 

Every dier has a particular receipt for dieing 
scarlet, and each is fully persuaded that his own 
is preferable to all others; yet the success de- 
pends on the choice of the cochineal, of the 
water used in the die, and on the manner of 
preparing the solution of tin, which the diers 
call composition of scarlet. 

As it is this composition which gives the 
bright flame colour to the cochineal die, and 
which without this acid liquor would naturally 
be of a crjmson colour, I shall describe the 
preparation that succeeded best with me. 



Composition for Scarlet. 

Take eight ounces of spirit of nitre, (which 
is always purer than the common aqua iortis 

L 



122 

mostly used by the diers) and* be certain that 
it contains no vitriolic acid ; weaken this nitrous 
acid by putting it into eight ounces of filtered 
river water : dissolve in it, little by little, half 
an ounce of very white salt ammoniac, to make 
it an aqua regia, because spirits of nitre alone 
will not dissolve block- tin. Lastly, acfd two 
drachms of salt-petre; this might be omitted, 
but I observed that it was of use in making the 
die smooth and equal. In this aqua regia thus 
weakened, dissolve one ounce of ; the best 
block-tin, which is first granulated or made 
small while melted by casting it from a height 
into a vessel of cold water. These small grains 
of tin are put into the dissolvent one by one, 
letting the first dissolve before putting in 
others ; this prevents the loss of the red va- 
pours, which would rise in great abundance, 
and be lost if the dissolution of the metal was 
made too hastily, it is necessary to preserve 
these vapours, and, as Kunkel observed, they 

* Dissolve in a small quantity of spirit of nitre as much sil- 
ver as it will take ; put a few drops of this into some of the 
spirit of nitre that is to be proved $ if this spirit remains 
transparent, it is pure; but if a white cloud bepcceived, 
which will afterwards form a sediment, it is a sign th.t there 
is a commixture of vitriol or spirit of salt. In order therefore 
to render the spirit of nitre absolutely pure, drop the solution 
of silver gradually into it, so long as it shall produce the least 
turbidness, tune being given for the spirit to become clear be- 
twixt each addition. The spirit of nitre being then poured 
off from the sediment, will be perfectly pure ; and if this se- 
diment, which is the silver precipitated, be evaporated to dry- 
ness, and then infused in a crucible with a small cjuanti.y of 
any fixed alkaline salt, it will be reduced to its proper metals 
line state. 



123 

greatly contribute towards the brightness of 
the colour, either because these vapours are 
acids that evaporate and are lost, or contain a 
sulphur peculiar to saltpetre, which gives a 
brightness to the colour. This method is in- 
deed much longer than that used by the diers, 
who immediately pour the aqua fortis upon the 
tin reduced to small pieces, and wait till a 
strong fermentation ensues, and a great quan- 
tity evaporates before they weaken it with com- 
mon water. When the tin is thus dissolved, 
this scarlet composition is made, and the li- 
(juor is of the beautiful colour of dissolved 
gold, without any dirt or black sediment, as 
I used very pure tin without allay, and such 
as runs from the first melting of the furnaces of 
Cornwall. This solution of tin is very trans- 
parent when newly made, and becomes milky 
and opaque during the great heat of summer; 
the greatest part of the diers are of opinion, 
that it is then changed and good for nothing ; 
yet mine, notwithstanding this defect, made as 
bright scarlet as if it had remained clear ; be- 
sides, in cold weather, what I made recovered 
its first transparency* It must be kept in a glass 
bottle with a stopper, to prevent the evapora- 
tion of the volatile parts. 

As the diers .do not attend to this, their com- 
position often becomes useless at the end of 
twelve or fifteen days. I have laid down the 
best method, and, if they seek perfection, they 
will abandon their old practice, 'which is im- 
perfect.. 



124 

The diers in France first put into a stone 
vessel, with a large opening, two pounds of 
salt ammoniac, two ounces of refined saltpetre, 
and two pounds of tin reduced to grains by 
water, or, which is still preferable, the filings 
of tin $ for when it has been melted and gra- 
nulated, there is always a small portion con- 
verted into a cal» which does not dissolve. 
They weigh four pounds of water in a sepa- 
rate vessel, of which they pour about two 
ounces upton the mixture in the stone vessel ; 
they then add to it a pound and a half of com- 
mon aqua fortis, which produces a violent fer- 
mentation. When the ebullition ceases, they 
put in the same quantity of aqua fortis, and 
an instant after they add one pound more. 
They then put in the remainder of the four 
pounds of water they had set aside; the vessel 
is then close covered, and the composition let 
to stand till the next day. 

The saltpetre and salt ammoniac are some- 
times dissolved in the aqua fortis before the tin 
is pur in -> they practise both methods indiscri- 
minately, though it is certain that this last me- 
thod is best. Others mix the water and aqua 
fortis together, and pour this mixture on the 
tin and salt ammoniac. In short, every dier 
follows his own method. 

Water for the Preparation of Scarlet. 

The day after preparing the composition, 
the water for the preparation of scarlet is made, 



12^ 

which differs from that made in the preceding 
chapter. 

Clear the water well. For each pound of 
spun wool, put twenty quarts of very clear ri- 
ver water (hard spring water will not do) into a 
small copper. When the water is a little more 
than lukewarm, two ounces of the cream of tar- 
tar finely powdered, and one drachm and a 
half of powdered and sifted cochineal is added. 
Tfte fire is then made a little stronger, and 
when the liquor is ready to boil two ounces of 
the composition are put in. This acid instantly 
changes the colour of the liquor, which, from 
a crimson, becomes of the colour of blood. 

As soon as this liquor begins to boil, the 
wool is dipped in, which must have been pre- 
viously wetted in warm water and wrung. The 
wool is continually worked in this liquor, and 
left to boil an hour and a half; it is then taken 
out, slightly wrung, and washed in fresh water. 
The wool coming out of the liquor is of a 
lively flesh colour, or even some shades deeper, 
according to the goodness of the cochineal, 
and the strength of the composition. The co- 
lour of the liquor is then entirely passed into the 
wool, remaining almost as clear as common 
water. 

This is called the water of preparation for 
scarlet, and the first preparation it goes through 
before it is died ; a preparation absolutely ne- 
cessary, without which the die of the cochi- 
neal would not be so good. 

La 



izO 



Reddening. 

To finish it, a fresh liquor is prepared with 
clear water, the goodness of the water being of 
the greatest importance towards the perfection 
of the scarlet. An ounce and a half of starch 
is put in*, and when the liquor is a little more 
than lukewarm, six drachms and a half of co- 
chineal finely powdered and sifted is thrown in. 
A little before the liquor boils, two ounces of 
the composition is poured in, and the liquor 
changes its colour as in the former* It must 
boil, and then the wool is put into the copper, 
and continually stirred as in the former. It is 
likewise boiled an hour and a half; it is then ta- 
ken out, wrung, and washed. The scarlet is 
then in its perfection. 

One ounce of cochineal is sufficient for a 
pound of wool, provided it be worked with at- 
tention, and after the manner laid down, and 
that no die remains in the liquor. For coarse 
cloth less would do, or half as much for 
worsted. However, if it was required to be 
deeper of cochineal, a drachm or two might 
be added, but not more, for it would then lose 
its lustre and brightness. 

Though I have mentioned the quantity of 
the composition, both in the water of the pre- 
paration and the die, yet this proportion .is not 
to be taken as a fixed rule. 

f Starch softens iu 



127 

The aqua fortis, used by the diers, is sel- 
dom of an equal strength ; if, therefore, it be 
always mixed with an equal quantity of wa- 
ter, the composition would not produce the 
same effect ; but there is a method of ascer- 
taining the degree of acidity of aqua fortis. 
For example, to use that only, two ounces of 
which would dissolve one ounce of silver. This 
would produce a composition that would be al- 
ways equal, but the quality of the cochineal 
would then produce new varieties, and the tri- 
fling difference that this commonly causes in the 
shade of scarlet is of no great signification, as 
- more or less may be used to bring it precisely 
to the colour desired. It the composition be 
weak, and the aforesaid quantity not put in, 
the scarlet will be a deeper and fuller in colour. 
On the contrary, if a little more is added, it 
will be more on the orange, and have what is 
called more fire ; to rectify which, add a little 
of the composition, stirring it well in the copper, 
having first taken out the wool - y for if it was to 
touch any part before it was thoroughly mixed, 
it would blot it. If, on the contrary, the scar- 
let has too much fire, that is, too much on the 
orangr, or too much rouzed, it must be passed 
through clear warm water; when finished, this 
saddens it a little, that is, diminishes its bright 
orange; if there still remained too much, a 
litrlt* Roman alum must be mixed with the hot 
water. 

For spun wool that is to have all the various 
shades of scarlet, about half the cochineal, and 



128 

half the composition for full scarlet is sufficient. 
The cream of tartar must also be diminished 
proportionally in the water of preparation. 
The wool must be divided into as many hanks 
or skain^ as there are to be shades, and when 
the liquor is prepared, the skains that are to be 
lightest are first to be dipped, and to remain 
in but a very short space of time; then those 
that are to be a little deeper, which must re- 
main in somewhat longer, and thus proceeding 
to the deepest ; the wool is then to be washed, 
and the liquor prepared to finish them. In this 
liquor, each of these shades are to be boiled 
one after the other, beginning always with the 
lightest, and if they are perceived not to be of 
the proper shade they must be passed again 
through the liquor. The eye of a dier, will 
readily judge of the shades, and a little prac- 
tice will bring this to perfection. 

The diers are divided in opinion of what 
metal the boiler should be made; In Langue- 
doc they use those made of the finest block tin,. 
and several diers in Paris follow the same 
method. Yet that great dier, M. de Julienne, 
whose scarlets are in great repute, uses brass* 
The same is used in the great manufactory at 
St. Dennis. M. be Julienne, to keep the stuffs 
from touching the boiler, makes use of a large 
rope net with close meshes. At St. Dennis, in- 
stead of a rope net, they have large baskets, 
made of willow stripped of the bark, and not 
too close worked o 



129 

As so much had been said concerning the 
metal of the boiler, I tried the experiment. I 
took too ells of white sedan cloth, which I died 
in two separate boilers of equal size ; one was 
of brass, fitted with a rope net, the other of 
block tin. The cochineal, the composition, 
and other ingredients, were weighed with the 
utmost accuracy and boiled precisely the same 
time. In short, I took all possible care that 
the process should be the same in both, that if 
any difference arose it might only be attributed 
to the different metals, of the boiler. After the 
first liquor, the two pieces of cloth were abso- 
lutely alike only that which had been boiled in 
the tin vessel appeared a little more streaked 
and uneven, which, in all likelihood, proceed- 
ed from these two ells of cloth being less scour- 
ed at the mill than the two others j the two pie- 
ces were finished each in the separate boilers, 
and both turned out very fine ; but that which 
had been made in the tin boiler had a little more 
fire than the other, and the last was a little more 
saddened. It would have been an easy matter 
to have brought them both to the same shade, 
but that was not my intention. • 

From this experiment, I conclude* that when 
a brass boiler is used, it requires a little more 
of the, composition than the tin one; but this 
addition of the composition makes the cloth 
feel rough ; to avoid this defeft, the Diers who 
use brass vessels put in a little turmeric, a drug 
of the die, but which gives to scarlet that shade 
which is now in fashion j I mean that flame- 



i 3 o 

colour, which the eye is scarce able to bear. 

This adulteration is easily discovered by cut- 
ting a piece of the cloth ; if there is no turme- 
ric, the web will be of a fine white, but yellow 
if there is. When the web is dyed the same as 
the surface, it is said that colour is webbed, 
and the contrary, when the middle of the wea- 
ving remains white. The lawful scarlet is ne- 
ver dyed in the web: the adulterated, where 
the turmeric or fustic has been made use of, is 
more liable to change its colour in the air than 
the other. But as the brightest scarlets are now 
in fashion, and must have a yellow cast, it is 
better to tolerate the use of turmeric, than to 
use too great a quantity of the composition to 
bring the scarlet to this shade $ for in this last 
case, the cloth would be damaged by it, would 
be sooner spotted by dirt from the quality of 
the acid, and would be more easily torn, be- 
cause acids stiffen the fibres of the wool, and 
render them brittle. 

I must also take notice, that if a copper ves- 
sel is used it cannot be kept too xlean. I hive 
failed several times with my patterns of scarlet, 
by not having the copper scoured. 

I cannot help condemning the common prac- 
tice of some diers, even the most eminent, who 
prepare their liquor over night, and keep it hot 
till next morning, when they dip in their stuffs ; 
this they do, not to lose time, but it is cerrain 
that the liquor corrodes the copper in that space, 
and by introducing particles of copper in the 
cloth; prejudices the beauty of the scarlet* 



They may say they only put in their composi- 
tion just at the time when the cloth is ready to 
be dipt in the copper; but the cream of tartar, 
or the white tartar, which they put in over night, 
is an acid salt sufficient to corrode the copper 
of the vessel, and form a verdigrise, although 
it dilutes itself as it forms, still has not a less 
effedt. 

It would therefore be better to make use of 
tin boilers, a boiler of this metal must contri- 
butor to the beauty of scarlet; but these boilers 
of a sufficient size cost much, and may be melt- 
ed by the negligence of the workmen, and there 
is a difficulty in casting them of so great a size 
without sand-flaws, which must be filled. Now 
if these sand- holes are filled with solder, there 
must of necessity be places in the boiler that 
contain lead ; this lead in time being corroded 
by the acid of the composition, will tarnish the 
scarlet. But if such a boiler could be cast 
without any sand-holes, it is certain such a one 
would be preferable to all others, as it contradts 
no rust, and if the acid of the liquor detaches 
some parts, they cannot be hurtful. 

Having laid down the manner of dicing spun 
wool in scarlet, and its various shades, which 
are so necessary for tapestry and other work, it 
is proper to give an idea of the dieing of seve- 
ral pieces of stuff" at one time. I shall relate 
this operation as it is praftised in Languedoc. 
I made the trial on some ells of stuff, which 
succeeded very welt, but this scarlet was not so 
fine as the flame-coloured. 



132 

There are two reasons why the wool is not 
died before it is spun (for fine colours) first in 
the course of the manufacturing, that is, either 
in the spinning, carding, or weaving, it would 
be almost impossible in a large workshop, where 
there are many workmen, but that some parti- 
cles of white wool, or some other colour would 
mix, which would spoil that of the stuff by 
blotting it ever so little; for that reason, the 
reds, the blues, the yellows, the greens, and all 
other colours that are to be perfectly uniform, 
are never died before they are manufactured. 

The second reason, which is peculiar to scar- 
let, or rather to cochineal, is, that it will not 
stand the milling, and as the greatest part of 
high stuffs must be milled after they are taken 
from the loom, the cochineal would lose part of 
its colour, or at least would be greatly sadden- 
ed by the soap, which produces this effedt by 
the alkaline salt which destroys the brightness 
given to the red by the acid These are the 
reasons that the cloths and stuffs are not died in 
scarlet, light red, crimson, violet, purple, and 
other light colours, but after being entirely 
milled and dressed. 

To die, for example, five pieces of cloth at 
one time of five quarters breadth, and contain- 
ing fifteen or sixteen ells each, the following 
proportions are to be observed. Put into a 
stone or glazed earthen pot twelve pounds of 
aqua fprtis, and twenty pounds of water, to 
which add a pound and a half of tin, made in 
grains by running it in water, or filed. The 



m 

dissolution is made quicker or slower, accord- 
ing to the greater or lesser acidity of the aqua 
fortis. The whole is left to rest twelve hours 
at least, during which time a kind of black 
mud settles at the bottom of the vessel; what 
swims over this sediment is poured off by in* 
clination; this liquor is clear and yellow, and 
is the composition which is to be kept bv it- 
self. 

This process differs from the first in the quan- 
tity of water mixn with the aqua fortis, and in 
the small quantity of tin, liale of which must 
remain in the liquor, since aqua fortis alone 
cannot dissolve it, but only corrodes it, and 
reduces it to a calx, as there is neither salt pe- 
tre, nor salt ammoniac which would form an 
aqua regia. However, the effeft of this com- 
position differs from the first only to the eyes 
accustomed to judge of that colour. 

This composition made without salt ammo- 
niac, and which has been of long use amongst 
a great number of manufacturers at Carcassone, 
who certainly imagined that its effeft was ow- 
ing to the sulphur of the tin, can only keep 
thirty-six hours in winter without spoiling, and 
twenty-four hours in summer; at the expiration 
of which it grows muddy, and a cloud preci- 
pitates to the bottom of the vessel, which chan- 
ges to a white sediment. This is the small 
quantity of tin, which was suspended in the 
acid, but an acid not prepared for that metal ; 
the composition which ought to be yellow be- 
comes at that time as clear as water, and if used 

M 



*34 

in that state would not succeed ; it would have 
the same effect as that which would become 
milky. 

The late M. Baron pretended to have been 
the first discoverer at Carcassone of the neces- 
sity of adding salt ammoniac to hinder the tin 
from precipitating. If so, there was no one 
in that town that knew that tin cannot be real- 
ly dissolved but by aqua regia. 
m Having prepared the composition as I have 
described it after M. de Fondriers, about sixty 
cubical feet of water are put into ?. large cop- 
per for the five pieces of cloth before mention- 
ed, and when the water grows warm, a bag 
with bran is put in, sometimes also sour waters 
are used : the one and the other serve to cor- 
real the water, that is, to absorb the earthy and 
alkaline matters which may be in it, and which, 
as I have already said, saddens the dye of the 
cochineal, for the effe£t of the water ought to 
be well known, and experience will teach whe- 
ther such expedients should be used, or whether 
the water, being very pure and denuiated of 
salts and earthy particles, can be used without 
such helps. 

Be that as it will, as soon as the water begins 
to be little more than lukewarm, ten pounds of 
pondered cream of tartar is flung in, that is, 
two pounds for each piece of cloth. The li- 
quor is then raked strongly, and when it grows 
a little hotter, half a pound of powdered cochi- 
neal is cast in, which is well mixr with sticks; 
Immediately after, twenty-seven pounds of the 



m 

composition very clear is poured in, which is 
also well ftirred, and as soon as the liquor be- 
gins to boil, the cloths are put in, which are 
made to boil strongly for two hours, stirring 
them continually by the help of the wynch; 
they are then taken out upon the scray, and 
well handled three or four times from end to 
end, by passing the lists between the hands to 
air and cool them. They are afterwards wash- 
ed. 

After the cloth has been washed, the copper 
is emptied and afresh liquor prepared, to which 
if necessary, a bag with bran or some sour wa- 
ter is added; but if the water is of a good qua- 
lity, these are to be omitted ; when the liquor 
is ready to boil, eight pounds and a quarter of 
powdered and sifted cochineal is put in, which 
is to be mixed as equally as possible through- 
out the liqudr, and having left off stirring, ic 
is to be observed when the cochineal rises on 
the surface of the water, and forms a crust of 
the colour of the lees of the wine; the instant 
this crust opens of itself in several places, eigh- 
teen or twenty pounds of the composition is to 
be added. A vessel with cold water must be 
at hand to cast on the liquor in case it should 
rise, as it sometimes does, after the composi- 
tion is put in. 

As soon as the composition is in the copper, 
and equally distributed throughout the whole, 
the cloth is cast in, and the wynch strongly 
turned two or three times, that all the pieces 
may equally take the dye of the cochineaL 



i 3 6 

Afterwards it is turned slowly to let the wafer 
boil, which it must do very fast for one hour, 
always turning the wynch, and sinking the cloth 
in the liquor with sticks, when by boiling it 
rises too much on the surface. The cloth is 
then taken out, and the lists passed between 
the hands to air and cool it; it is then washed, 
after which it is to be died and dressed. 

In each piece of the Languedoc scarlet cloth 
there is used, as has been shewn, one pound 
and three quarters of cochineal in the die and 

Preparation ; this quantity is sufficient to give 
trie cloth a very beautiful colour. If more co- 
chineal was added, and a deeper orange-colour 
required, the quantity of the composition must 
be augmented. 

When a great quantity of stuffs are to b$ 
died in scarlet, a considerable profit arises by 
doing them together* for the same liquor serves 
for the second dip which was used for the first.. 
For example : when the five first pieces are fi- 
nished, there always remains in the liquor a 
certain quantity of cochineal, which in seven 
pounds may amount to twelve ounces; so that 
if this liquor be iii-ed to die other stuffs, the 
cloth dipped in it will have the same shade of 
rose colour as if they had been died in a fresh 
liquor with twelve ounces of cochineal; yet this 
quantity may vary pretty much, according to 

s the quality or choice of the cochineal, or ac- 
cording to the fineness it has been reduced to 
when powdered. I shall say no more of this 
before' I finish this chapter; but whatever co- 



lour may remain in the liquor, it deserves some 
attention on account of the high price of this 
drug. The same liquor is then made use of 
for other five pieces, and less cochineal and 
composition are put in proportion to what may 
be judged to remain ; fire and time are also sa- 
ved by this, and rose-colour and flesh-colour 
may also be produced from its but if the diers 
have no leisure to make these different liquors 
in twenty-four hours, the colour of the liquor 
corrupts, grows turbid, and loses the rose co- 
lour entirely. To prevent this corruption some 
put in Romsn alum, but the scarlets which are 
prepared after that manner are ill saddened. 

When cloths of different qualities, or any 
other stuffs are to be died, the surest method 
is to weigh them, and for each hundred weight 
of cloth add about six pounds of crystal or 
cream of tartar, eighteen pounds of composi- 
tion in the water of preparation, as much for 
the reddening, and six pounds and a quarter of 
cochineal. Thus in proportion for one pound 
of stuff* use one ounce of cream of tartar, six 
ounces of composition, and one ounce of cochi- 
neal j some eminent diers at Paris put two-thirds 
of the composition and a fourth of fehe cochi- 
neal in the water of preparation, and the other 
third of the composition with three fourths of 
the cochineal in reddening. 

It is not customary to put cream of tartar in 
the reddening, yet I am certain, by experience, 
that it does not hurt, provided the quantity 
does not exceed half the weight of the cochL- 

M2 



neal, and it appeared to me to make a more 
lasting colour. Some diers have made scarlet 
with three dippings ; namely, a first and second 
water for preparation, and then the reddening; 
but still the same quantity of drugs is always 
used. 

I observed, in the foregoing chapter, that the 
little use made of kermes for the brown or Ve- 
netian scarlets, obliges most diers to make them 
with, cochineal; for this purpose a water of pre- 
paration is made as usual ; and for the redden- 
ing, eight pounds of alum are added for each 
hundred weight of stuff; this alum is dissolved 
by itself in a kettle, with a sufficient quantity 
of water, then poured into the liquor before 
the cochineal is put in. The remainder is per- 
formed exaftly as in the common scarlet; this 
is the Venetian scarier, but it has not near the 
same solidity as if made with the kermes. 

There are no alkaline salts which do not sad- 
den scarlet; of this number are the salt of tar- 
tar, pot-ash, pearl-ashes calcined, and nitre 
fixed by fire; therefore alum is more generally 
used; and if these alkaline salts be boiled with 
the stuffs, they would considerably damage 
them, for they dissolve all animal'substances. 
If the alum be calcined, it is still the more se- 
cure. 

The redder the scarlet is, the more it has 
been saddened ; from thence it appears that 
these colours lose in the liquor that browns 
them a part of. their ground; however one can- 
not brown in the good dye but with salts. The 



'59 

late M. Baron observes, in a memoir he gave 
some cime ago to the Royal Academy of Scien- 
ces, that all the salts he had made use of for 
browning, making the colour smooth, and pre- 
serving its brightness and deepness, he had 
succeeded best with salt of urine, but, as he 
observes, it is too troublesome to make this 
salt in any quantity. 

I said, in the beginning of this chapter, that 
the choice of the water for dying of scarlet was 
very material, as the greatest part of common 
water saddens it, for they mostly contain a 
chalky, calcareous earth, and sometimes a sul- i 
phtrreous or vitriolic acid; these are common- 
ly called hard waters, that is, they will not dis-, 
solve soap or boil vegetables well. By finding 
a method of absorbing or precipitating these 
hurtiul matters, all waters may be equally good 
for this kind of die: thus, if alkaline matters 
are to be removed, a little sour water produces 
this effect; for if five or six buckets of these 
sour waters are mixed with sixty or seventy of 
the hard water before it comes to boil, these al- 
kaline earths rise in a scum, which is e^ily ta- 
ken off the liquor. 

All that I have hitherto said in this chapter 
is for the instruction of diers ; I shall now make 
an attempt to satisfy the philosopher how these 
different effedts are produced. 

Cochineal, infused or boiled by itself in pure 
water, gives a crimson colour bordering on the 
purple; this is its natural colour; put it into 
a glass, and drop on it spirits of nitre; this 



140 

colour will become yellow, and if you still add 
riibre, you will scarcely perceive that there was 
originally any red in the liquor; thus the acid 
destroys the red by dissolving it and dividing 
its parts so minutely that they escape the sight. 
If in this experiment a vitriolic, instead of a 
nicrous acid be used, the first changes of the 
colour will be purple, then purpled lilac, after 
that a light lilac, then flesh-colour, and lastly, 
colourless. This bluish substance, which mix- 
es with the red to form a purple, may proceed 
from that small portion of iron, from which oil 
of vitriol is rarely exempt. In the liquor of 
preparation for scarlet, no other salt but cream 
of tartar is used, no alum is added as in the 
common preparing water for other colours, be- 
cause it would sadden the dye by its vitriolic 
acid ; yet a calx or lime is required, which, 
with the red parts of the cochineal, may form 
a kind of lake like that the painters use, which 
may set in the pores of the wool by the help of 
the crystal of tartar. 

Thi| white calx is found in the solution of 
very pure tin, and if the experiment of the die 
is made in any small glased earthen vessel, im- 
mediately on the cochineal's communicating 
its tin&ure to the water, and then adding the 
composition drop by drop, each drop may be 
perceived with & glass or lens, to form a small 
circle, in which a brisk fermentation is carried 
on y the calx of the tin will be seen to separate,/ 
and instantaneously to take the bright die 5 



Hi 

which the cloth will receive in the sequel of 
the operation. 

A further proof that this white calx of tin is 
necessary in this operation, is, that if cochineal 
was used with aqua fortis, or spirits of nitre 
alone a very ugly crimson would be obtained ; if 
a solution of any other metal was made use of in 
spirits of nitre, as of iron or mercury, from the 
first would be had a deep cinder-grey, and from 
the second, a chesnut colour with green streaks, 
without being able to trace in the one or other 
any remains of the red of the cochineal. There- 
fore, by what I have laid down, it may be rea- 
sonable to suppose, that the white calx of the 
tin, having been died by the colouring parts 
of the cochineal, rouzed by the acid of the dis- 
solvent of this metal, has formed this kind of 
earthy lake, whose atoms have introduced them- 
sclves into the pores of the wool, which were 
opened by the boiling water, that they are 
plaistered by the crystal of tartar, and these 
pores, suddenly contracting by the immediate 
cold the cloth was exposed to by airing, that 
these colouring particles are found sufficiently 
set in to be of the good die, and that the air 
will take off the primitive brightness, in pro- 
portion to the various matters with which it is 
impregnated. In the country, for example, 
and particularly if the^ situation be high, a 
scarlet cloth preserves its brightness much 
longer than in great cities, where the urinous 
and alkaline vapours are more abundant. For 
the same reason, the country mud, which in 



142 

roads is generally but an earth diluted by rain 
water, does not stain scarlet as the mud of 
towns where there are urinous matters, and 
often a great deal of dissolved iron, as in the 
streets of great cities, for it is well known that 
any alkaline matter destroys the effect which 
an acid has produced on any colour whatso- 
ever. And for the like reason, if a piece of 
scarlet is boiled in a ley of pot ash, this co- 
lour becomes purple, and by a continuation of 
boiling it is entirely taken out; thus from this 
fixed alkali, and the crystal of tartar, a solu- 
ble tartar is made, which the water dissolves 
and easily detaches from the pores of the wool ; 
all the mastic of the colouring parts is then 
destroyed, and they enter into the leys of the 
salts. 

I have tried several experiments on the die 
of cochineal, to discover what might be pro- 
duced from the union of its red with other dif- 
ferent matters, which generally are not esteem- 
ed colouring; but I shall only relate here such 
as had the most singular effects. 

Experiments on Cochineal liquor. 

Zinc dissolved in spirit of nitre changes the 
red of cochineal to a slatey violet colour. 

The salt of lead, used instead of cream of 
tartar, makes a lilac somewhat faded ; a proof 
that some portion of lead is joined to the co- 
lour of the cochineal. 



*43 

Vitriolated tartar made with pot-ash and vi- 
tridl^estroys its red, and there only remains an 
a gash grey. 

Bismuth dissolved in spirit of nitre, weak- 
ened- by an equal part of common water, and' 
poured on the liquor of cochineal, gives the 
cloth $ dove-grey, very beautiful and very 
bright* 

A solution of copper in spirit of nitre nor 
weakened, gives to die cochineal a dirty crim- 
son, 

Cupullated silver, a cinnamon colour, a little 
on the brown. 

Arsenic added to the liquor of cochineal, 
gives a brighter cinnamon than the preceding. 

Gold dissolved in aqua regia gave a streak- 
ed chesnut, which made the cloth appear as if 
it had been manufactured with wool of dif- 
ferent colours. 

Mercury dissolved with spirit of nitre, pro- 
duces pretty near the same effect. 

Glauber's salts alone destroys the red, like 
the vitriolated tartar, and produces like that an 
agarh grey, but not of the good die; because 
this salt easily dissolves even in cold water, 
and besides itcalcines in the air. 

The fixed salt of urine gives a cinder-grey 
colour, where not the least tincture of red is 
perceived, and like the foregoing is not of a 
good die, for it is a salt that cannot form a so- 
lid cement in the pores of the wool, as it is 
soluble by the moisture of the air. 



i44 



Violet without Blue. 



Lastly, the extract of bismuth changes the 
cochineal red to a purple, almost violet, as 
beautiful as if this red had been put on a cloth 
that had been previously died of a sky-blue. 

From these experiments it is evident, that 
the salts and metallic solutions yield particles 
which jjnite themselves with the particles of the 
colouring ingredients used in dicing, and 
which salts and particles contribute greatly to 
the tenacity of colours. 

Before I finish this chapter on scarlet, I must 
add some observations which perhaps the rea- 
der may be glad to know. 

Neither the mud of the streets nor several 
acrid matters can stain scarlet, if the spotted 
part is immediately washed with plain clean 
water and a clean cloth; but if the mud has 
had time to dry, thtn the spot appears of a vi- 
olet black ; this cannot be taken off but by a 
vegetable acid, such as vinegar, lemon-juice, 
or a warm solution of white tartar slightly load- 
ed with sales ; but if these acids are not made 
use of with precaution and skill in taking off 
the black spot, a yellow one will succeed ; be- 
cause, as has been said before, the acids rouse 
and even destroy the red of the cochineal. 

But there are some for which the colour must 
be discharged, and the stuff died again. There 
are other salts, besides alkalis which will dis- 
charge the colour pf scarlet -, for if a piece of 



H5 

scarlet cloth be put into the water of -prepara- 
tion for that colour, it will lose a great pait of 
its colour, insomuch, that if it was sewed with 
two or three pieces of white cloth, it would be 
difficult after one hour's boiling to distinguish 
which was the scarlet from the others ; but if 
it was boiled afresh in a liquor, of cochineal or 
in the reddening, it would regain its first co- 
lour- 
Scarlets always lose some part of their 
brightness in the dressing, for the dressing lays 
the hair, and forces the fibres to be almost pa- 
rallel to the web. In this case the cloth has 
numerically less surface, and consequently less 
rays of light are reflected from it. Besides the 
extremity of the hair is always most penetrated 
with the die which causes the brightness, and 
when it is laid on the cloth, the greatest part of 
these points appear no more. 



CHAPTER XI. 



OF CRIMSON. 



CRIMSON, as I have already observed, is 
the natural colour of the cochineal, or ra- 
ther, that which it gives to wool boiled with 
alum and tartar, which is the usual water of 

N 



146 

preparation for all colours. This is the method 
which is commonly practised for spun wool; 
it is almost the same for cloths, as will be seen 
hereafter. 

For each pound of wool, two ounces and a 
half of alum, and an ounce and a half of white 
tartar, are put into the copper. When the 
whole boils, the wool is put in, well stirred, 
and left to boil for two hours ; it is afterwards 
taken out, slightly wrung, put into a bag, and 
left thus with its water, as for the scarlet in 
grain, and for all other colours. 

For the die a fresh liquor is made, in which 
three-fourths of an ounce of cochineal is added 
for each pound of wool. When the liquor is 
little more than luke-warm, the cochineal is 
put in, and when it begins to boil, the wool is 
cast in, which is to be well stirred wich sticks ; 
it is to remain thus for an hour; when taken 
put, wrung and washed. 

If degrees of shades are required, (whose 
names are merely arbitrary) proceed, as has 
been already related for the scarlet, using but 
half the cochineal at first, and beginning with 
the lightest. 

The beauty of crimson consists in its bor- 
dering as much as possible on the grisdelin, a 
colour between a grey and a violet. I made 
several trials to bring crimson to a higher per- 
fection than most dicrs have hitherto done, and 
indeed I succeeded so as to make it as fine as 
the false crimson, which is always brighter than 
the fine. 



This is the principle on which I worked. As 
all alkalis sadden cochineal, I tried soap, ba- 
rilla, pot-ash, pearl-ashes; all these salts brought 
the crimson to the shade I wanted, but at the 
same time, they tarnished and diminished its 
brightness, I then bethought myself to make 
use of volatile alkalis, and I found that the 
volatile spirit of salt ammoniac produced a ve- 
ry good effedt; but this spirit instantly evapo- 
rated, and a pretty considerable quantity was 
used in the liquor, which greatly augmented 
the price of the die. 

I then had recourse to another expedient 
which succeeded better, the expense of which 
is trifling. This was to make the volatile al- 
kali of the salt ammoniac enter into the liquor, 
at the very instant that it comes out nf itc h*„ 
sis 5 and to effect this, after my crimson was 
made after tht usual manner, I passed through 
a fresh liquor, in which I had dissolved a little 
of the salt ammoniac. As soon as the liquor 
was a little more than luke-wann, I flung in 
as much pot-ash as I had before of salt ammo- 
niac, and my wool immediately took a very 
brilliant colour. 

This method even spares the cochineal ; for 
this new liquor makes it rise, and then less may 
be used than in the common process; but the 
greatest part of diers, even the most eminent, 
sadden their crimsons with archil, a drug of the 
false die. 

Very beautiful crimsons are also made by 
boiling the wool as for the common scarlet, and 



i 4 B 

then boiling it in a second liquor, with two 
ounces of alum and one ounce of tartar, for 
each pound of wool, leaving it one hour in the 
liquor. A fresh liquor is then prepared, in 
which six drachms of cochineal is put for eve- 
ry pound of wool. After it has remained an 
hour in this liquor, it is taken out, and passed 
immediately through a liquor of barilla and 
salt ammoniac, By this method, gradations of 
very beautiful crimson shades are' made by di- 
minishing the quantity of the cochineal. It is 
to oe observed, that in this process there are 
but six drachms of cochineal to die each pound 
of wool, because in the first liquor a drachm 
and 3 half of cochineal is used for each pound. 
It is also necessary to remark, that, to sadden 
these crimsons, the liquor of the alkaline salt 
nn:\ salt ammoniac be not made too hot, be- 
cause the separation of the volatilp spirit of 
this last salt w^ould be too quick, and the crys- 
tal of tartar of the first liquor would lose its 
proper effect by beirjg changed, as I have al- 
ready said into a soluble tartar. 

The same operation may be done by using 
one part of the cochineal sylvestre instead of 
the fine cochineal, and the colour is not less 
beautrul, for commonly four parts of sylvestre 
have hot more effeft in dieing than one part of 
fine cochineal. The sylvestre may also be used 
in dying scarlet, but with great precaution; it 
should only be used in bastard scarlets and half 
crimsons. I shall speak of this when I treat 
of these colours in particular. 



i49 

When a scarlet is spotted or spoiled in the 
operation by some unforeseen accident, or even 
when the die has failed, the common remedy is. 
to make it a crimson, and for that purpose, it 
is dipt in a liquor where about two pounds of 
alum are added for each hundred weight of 
wool. It is immediately plunged in this liquor, 
and left, there until it has acquired the shade of 
the crimson desired. 

Languedoc Crimson. 

I shall now shew the method they follow in 
Languedoc to make a very beautiful sort of 
crimson, or the cloths exported to the Levant* 
but which is not so much saddened as that 
which I have just spoken of, and which resem- 
bles much more the Venetian scarlet. For five 
pieces of cloth the liquor is prepared as usual, 
putting bran if necessary. When it is more 
than lukewarm, ten pounds of sea-salt are put, 
instead of crystal of tartar, and when it is rea- 
dy to boil, twenty-seven pounds of the scarlet 
composition, made after the manner of carcas- 
sine already described, are poured in, and with- 
out adding cochineal the cloth is passed through 
this liquor for two hours, keeping it always 
turning with the wyneh, 4nd continually boil- 
ing. It is afterwards taken out, aired and wash- 
ed ; then a fresh liquor is made, with eight 
pounds and three quarters of cochineal pow- 
dered and sifted, and when it is ready to boi],- 
twentv-one pounds of composnon are added 5.. 

N 2 



i 5 o 

the cloth is boiled for three quarters of an hour 
with the common precautions, after which it is 
taken out, aired and washed : It is of a very 
fine crimson, but very little saddened ; if it is 
required to be more saddened, a greater quan- 
tity of alum is put into the first liquor of pre- 
paration, and in the second le^s of the compo- 
sition, the sea-salt is also added to this second 
liquor; a little practice in this method will 
soon teach the dier to make all the shades that 
can properly be derived from crimson. 

Whenever cochineal has been used, there is 
found at the bottom of the reddening liquor a 
quantity of very brown sediment, which is 
flung away with the liquor as useless. I exa- 
mined it and found, that the liquor for the red- 
dening of scarlet contained a precipitated calx 
of tin : I united this metal with a great deal of 
trouble; the remaining parts of this sediment 
are the dross of the white tartar, or of the cream 
of tartar, united with the gross parts of the bo- 
dies of the cochineal, which is, as has already 
been said, a small inseft. I washed these little 
animal parts in cold water, and, by shaking 
this water, I collected, with a small sieve, what 
the agitation caused to rise on the surface. 

After this manner I separated these light 
parts from the earthy and metallic; I dried 
them separately, then levigated them with e- 
qual weight of fresh crystal of tartar; I boil- 
ed a portion with a little alum, and put in a 
pattern of white cloth, which boiled for three 
quarters of an hour, at the end of which it was 
died of a very beautiful crimson. 



... • x $ l 

This experiment having convinced nr^e, that 
by powdering and sifting the cochineal as is 
commonly practised, all the profit that might 
be extracted from this dear drug is not obtain- 
ed, I thought proper to communicate this dis- 
covery to the diers, that they might avail them- 
selves of it by the method following. 

Take one ounce of cochineal powdered and 
sifted as usual; mix with it a quarter of its 
weight of very white cream of rartar very crys- 
talline and very airy ; put the whole on a hard 
levigating scone, and levigate this mixture till 
it is reduced to an impalpable powder ; make 
use of this cochineal thus prepared in the liquor, 
and in the reddening,subtracttng from the cream 
of tartar, which is to be used in the liquor, the 
s^nall, quantity before used with the cochineal. 
What is put to the reddening, although mixed 
with a fourth of the same salt, does not preju- 
dice its colour, it even appeared to me that it 
was more solid. Those that will follow this 
method will find that there is about a fourth 
more profit to be obtained by it. 

The Natural Crimson in Grain. 

In proportion for every pound of cloth or 
other things, take two ounces of tartar pure, 
and two ounces of alum; boil them with the 
goods an hour and a half; then rince the goods 
very well from the boiling. The kettle must 
be filled again with clear water and a few hand- 
fuls of bran put in 2 in order to take out the filth 



1 5 2 

of the water, as well as to soften it. Scum the 
scurf off when it begins to boil, and put in an 
ounce of well powdered grain, with one dram 
of red arsenic and one spoonful of burnt wine 
lees; this gives a pretty lustre; then wash and 
rince it well, and you have a most beautiful 
colour. 



CHAPTER XII. 



SCARLET OF GUM-LACQtfE. 

THE red part of the gum-lacque may be 
also used for the dieing of scarlet, and if 
this sea. let has not all the brightness of that 
made of fine coehineal alone, it has the advan- 
tage of being more lasting. 

The gurrvlacque, which is in branches or 
small sticks and full of animal parts, is the fit- 
test for dieing. It must be red within, and its 
external parts of a blackish brown ; it appears 
by a particular examination made of it by M. 
Geoffroy some years since, that it is a sort of 
hive, somewhat like that of bees, wasps, &c. 

Some diers make use of it powdered and tied 
in a linen bag; but this is a bad method, for 
there always passe* through the cloth some re- 
sinous portion of the gum, which melts in the 
boiling water of the copper, and sticks to the 



153 

cloth* where it becomes so adherent when cold, 
that it must be scraped off with a knife. 

Others reduce it to - powder, boii it in water, 
and after it has given all its colour, let it cool, 
and the resinous parts fall to the bottom. The 
water is poured out, and evaporated by the air, 
where it often becomes stinking, and when it 
has acquir : 1 the consistence of thick honey, it 
is put up into vessels for use. Under this form 
it is pretty difficult justly to determine the quan- 
tity that is us^d ; this induced me to seek the 
means of obtaining this tin&ure separated from 
its resinous gum, without being obliged to eva- 
porate so great a quantity of water to have it 
dry, and to reduce it to powder. 

I tried it with weak lime water, with a de- 
coction of the heart of agaric, with a decodtion 
of comfrey root, recommended in an ancient 
book of physic; in ali these the water leaves a 
part of the die, and it still passes too full of co- 
lour, and it ought to be evaporated to get all 
the dye ; this evaporation I wanted to avoid, 
therefore I made use of mucilaginous or slimy 
roots, which of themselves gave no colour, but 
whose mucilage might retain the colouring 
parts, so that they might remain with it on the 
filter. 

The great comfrey root has, as yet, the best 
answered my intention : I use it dry and in a 
gross powder, putting half a dram to each quart 
of water, which is boiled a quarter of an hour, 
passing it through a hair sieve. It immediate- 
ly extracts from it a beautiful crimson tin&ure; 



*54 

put the vessel to digest in a moderate heat for 
twelve hours, shaking it seven or eight times to 
mix it with the gum that remains at the bottom, 
then pour off the water that is loaded with co- 
lour in a vessel sufficiently large, that three- 
fourths may remain empty, and fill it with cold 
water : then pour a very small quantity of strong 
solution of Roman alum on the tin&ure \ the 
mucilaginous or slimy die precipitates itself, 
and if the water which appears on the top ap- 
pears still coloured, add some drops of the so- 
lution of alum to finish the precipitation, and 
this repeat till the water becomes as clear as 
•common water. 

When the crimson mucilage or slime is all 
sunk to the bottom of the vessel, draw off the 
clear water, and filter the remainder; after 
which, dry it in the sun. 

If the first mucilaginous water has not ex- 
tracted all the colour of the gum~lacque, (which 
is known by the remaining being of a weak 
straw colour) repeat the operation until you se- 
parate all the die the gum-lacque can furnish ; 
and as it is reduced to powder when dry, the 
quantity to be used in the die is more exadtly 
ascertained than by evaporating it to the con- 
sistence of an extraft. 

Good gum-lacque, picked from its sticks, 
yields, dried and powdered, but little more die 
than one-fifth of its weight. Thus at the price 
it bears at present, there is not so great an ad- 
vantage as many may imagine in using it in the 
place of cochineal; but to make the scarlet co- 



^5 

lour more lasting than it commonly is, it may 
be used in the first liquor or preparation, and 
cochineal for reddening. 

If scarlet is made of gum-lacque, extra&ed 
according to the method here taught, and re- 
duced to powder, a caution is to be taken in 
dissolving it, which is useless when cochineal 
is use,d ; that is, if it was put into the liquor 
ready to boil, the dier would lose three-quar- 
ters of an hour, before it would be dissolved 
entirely; therefore for despatch, put the dose 
of this dry tin&ure into a large earthen vessel, 
or into one of tin, pour warm water on it, and 
when it is well moistened, add the necessary 
dose of the composition for scarlet, stirring the 
mixture well with a glass pestle. This powder, 
which was of a dirty deep purple, as it dis- 
solves takes fire-coloured red extremely bright; 
pour the dissolution into the liquor, in which 
was previously put the crystal of tartar, and as 
soon as this liquor begins to boil, dip the cloth 
in, keeping it continually turning. The re- 
maining part of the operation is the same as 
that of scarlet with cochineal : the extraft of 
gum-lacque, prepared according to my method, 
yields about one-ninth more of die than cochi- 
neal, at least than that which I made use of for 
this comparison. 

If instead of the crystal of tartar and the 
composition of some fixed alkaline salt or lime 
water is substituted, the bright red of the gum 
lacque is changed into the colour of lees of 
wine, so that this die does not sadden so easily 
as that of cochineal. 



x 5 6 

If instead of these alteratives, salt ammoniac 
is used by itself, cinnamon or clear chesnut co- 
lours are obtained, and that according as there 
is more or less of this salt. I have made twen- 
ty other experiments on this drug, which I shall 
not relate here, because they produced none but 
common colours, and which may be easier had 
from ingredients of a lower price. My expe- 
riments were with a view of improving the red 
of the lacque, and the method I have here laid 
down to extract its colouring parts answers ex- 
tremely well - y the more ingredients that are dis- 
covered for scarlet, the less will be the cost ; 
for, although these experiments made on co- 
chineal, lacque, and other drugs, may appear 
useless to some diers, they will not be so to 
others who study to improve this art,* 



CHAPTER XIII. 



OF THE GOCCUS POLONICUS, A COLOURING 

f v. INSECT. 

THE coccus polonicus is a little round insect, 
somewhat less than a coriander seed ; it 
is found sticking to the roots of the polygonum 



* The colouring parts of the gum-lacque may be extracted 
by common river water, by making it a little more than luke- 
warm, and inclosing the powdered lacque in a coarse woollen 



l 57 

.cocciferum incanam flore majore perenni of Ray, 
and which M. Tournefort has named alchymllli 
graminco foils majore flore. According to M. 
Breyn, it abounds in the palatinate of Kiovia, 
bordering the Ukrania, towards the towns of 
Ludnow, Piatka, Stobdyzeze, and other sandy 
places of Ukrania and Bodolia, of Volhinia, 
of the grand duchy of Lithuania, and even in 
Prussia, towards Thorn. 

Those that gather them say, that immedi- 
ately after the summer solstice the coccus is 
ripe, and full of its purple juice. They hold 
in their hand a small hollow shade, made in the 
shape of a shepherd's crook, which has a short 
handle. With one hand they hold the plant, 
raising it out of the ground with the other, 
armed with this instrument; they then shake 
off these little insects, and place the plant in 
the same hole in order to preserve it. 

Having separated the coccus from the earth, 
which they do by a riddle made for that pur- 
pose, their chief care is, that it should not 
change into a small worm; for this purpose 
they-sprinkle it with vinegar, and sometimes 
with very cold water; they then bring them to 
a warm place, or else expose them to the sun 
to dry; without this, these inserts would de- 
stroy themselves, and if they were dried too 
precipitately, they would lose their beautiful 
colour, Sometimes they separate these small 
inse&s from their vesicles or bladders- with the 
ends of their fingers by a gentle pressure, which 
they form into sina-ll round cakes. The diers 

O 



pay dearer for this die when in lump than when 
it is in grain. 

Bernard de Bernitz, from whose book I have 
taken this, adds, that the great marechal Ko- 
nitspoliki, and some other Polish noblemen, 
who had lands in the Ukrania, set this gather- 
ing of the coccus to the Jews at a considerable 
profit, and caused it to be gathered by their 
vassals; that the Turks and Arminians, who 
bought this drug of the Jews, used it for the 
dicing of wool, silk, the manes and tails of 
their horses ; that the Turkish women made 
use of it to paint their fingers' ends of a beau- 
tiful carnation colour ; and that formerly the 
Dutch used to buy the coccus at a high price, 
and mixed it with an equal quantity of cochi- 
neal - y that with the die of this insedt and chalk, 
a lacque for the painters might be made as fine 
as the Florence lacque; and that a beautiful red 
was prepared from it for the toilet of the ladies 
in France and Spain. 



CHAPTER IV. 



OF THE RED OF MADDER. 

THE root of madder is the only part of 
this plant which is used in dicing. Of 
all the reds this is the most lasting, when it is 



*$9 

put on a cloth or stuff that is thoroughly scour- 
ed, then prepared with the salts,%$ith which it 
is to be boiled two or three hours',--' without 
which, this red, so tenacious after the prepara- 
tion of the subjcft, would scarcely resist more 
the proofs of the reds than any other ingredi- 
ents of the false die. This is a proof that the 
pores of the fibres of the wool ought not only 
to be well scoured from the yolk or undluous 
transpiration of the animal, which may have 
remained, notwithstanding the scouring of the 
wool after the common manner with water and 
urine ; but it is also necessary, that these same' 
pores be plaistered inwardly with some of those 
salts which are called hard, because they do 
not calcine in the air, and cannot be dissolved 
by rain water, or by the moisture of the air in 
rainy weather. Such is, as has been said be- 
fore, the white crude tartar, the red and the 
crystal of tartar, of which, according to com- 
mon custom, about a fourth is put into the pre- 
paring liquor, with two-thirds or three-fourths 
of alum. 

The best madder roots come generally from 
Zealand, where this plant is cultivated in the 
islands of Tergoes, Zerzee, Sommerdyke, and 
Thoolen. That from the first of these islands 
is esteemed the best ; the soil is clay, fat, and 
somewhat salt/ The lands that are deemed the 
best for the cultivation of this plant are new 
lands, that only served for pasture, which are 
always fresher and moister than others. The 
Zealanders are beholden to the refugees of 



i6o 

Flanders for the cultivation and great commerce 
of this root. 

It is known in trade and dicing under the 
names of grape- madder, bunch madder, &c. 
It is however the same root; all the difference 
in regard to its quality is, that the one kind 
contains pith and root, and the other has the 
small fibres from its principal root adhering to 
it. 

Both are prepared by the same work, which 
I shall not relate the particulars of here, as it 
would only serve to lengthen this treatise to no 
purpose. 

They choose the finest roots for the first sort, 
drying them with care, grinding them and se- 
parating the rind at the mill, and preserving the 
middle of the root ground in hogsheads, where 
it remains for two or three years 5 for after this 
time, it is better for dieing than it would have 
been coming from the mill ; for if madder was 
not kept close after this manner, the air would 
spoil it, and the colour would be less bright. 
It is at first yellow, but it reddens and grows 
brown by age; the best is of a saffron colour, 
in hard lumps, of a srrong smell, and yet not 
disagreeable. It is also cultivated about Lisle 
in Flanders, and several other places of the 
kingdom, where it was found to grow sponta- 
neously. 

The madders which are made use of in the 
Levant and in India, for the dieing of cottons, 
are somewhat different from the kinds used in 
Europe, it 13 named cbaton the coast of Coro- 



i6i 

mandel. This plant thus called, grows abun- 
dantly in the woods on the coast of Malabar, 
and this chat is the wild sort. The cultivated 
comes from Vasur and Tuccorin, and the mose 
esteemed of all is the chat of Persia, named 
dumas. 

They also gather on the coast of Coromandel 
the root of another plant called ray de chaye y 
or root of colour, and which was thought to 
be a kind of rubia tin£foram> but is the root of 
a kind of gallium flore albo, as it appeared by 
observations sent from India in 1748. It has 
a long slender root, which dies cotton of a to- 
lerable handsome red, when it has received all 
the preparations previous to the die. 

At Kurder, in the neighbourhood of Smyrna, 
and in the countries of Akissar and of Yordas^ 
they cultivate another kind of madder, which 
is called in the country chioc-boya ekme hazala. 
This of all the madders is the best for the red 
die, by the proofs that have been made of it, 
and far more esteemed in the Levant than the 
finest Zealand madder the Dutch bring there, 
This madder so much valued is called by the 
modern Greeks iizari, and by the Arabs foiioy* 

There is another kind of madder in Canada 
called tyssa^voyana. It is a very small root, 
which produces pretty near the same effed: as 
our European madder. 

* These kinds of ma.dders give brighter reds than the best 
grape madder of Zealand, for they are died in the air and not 
in a stove, The madder of Languedoc, even that of Poitou, 
succeeds as well as that of haari, when it is dried without 
fire, 

O a. 



162 

The water of preparation for madder red is 
pretty near the same as for kermes, that is com- 
posed of alum and tartar. The diers do not 
agree as to the proportions ; but the best ap- 
pears to be four ounces of alum and one of red 
tartar to each pound of spun woo), and about 
one-twelfth part of sour water, and let the wqq! 
boil in it for two hours. If it is spun wool, 
leave it for seven or eight days, that it may be 
well moistened by the dissolution of these salts; 
and if it is cloth, finish it the fourth day. 

To die wool with madder, prepare a fresh 
liquor, and when the water is come to a heat 
co bear the hand, put in half a pound of the 
finest grape madder for each pound of wool ; 
let it be well raked and mixed in the copper 
before the wool goes in, keep the wool in an 
hour, during which time it must not boil.* 
Shades from madder are obtained after the 
manner laid down for other colours, but these 
shades are little used, except in a mixture of 
several colours. 

When several pieces of cloth are to be died 
at once in madder red, the operation is the same, 
only augmenting the ingredients in proportion^ 
and let it be remarked that in small operations 
the quantity of ingredients must be somewhat 
greater than in great, not only in madder red, 
but in all other colours. 

These reds are never so beautiful as those of 
the kermes, and much less so than those of the 

* If madder is boiled, its red becomes obscure, and of a 
brick colour, 



163 

lacque or cochineal, but they cost less, and are 
made use of for common stuffs whose low pri- 
ces would not allow a dearer die. Most of the 
reds for the army are of madder, saddened with 
archil or brazil, "(though these 'drugs be of the 
safe die) to make them finer, and more on the 
velvet, which perfection could not be procured 
to them even with cochineal, without conside- 
rably augmenting the price. 

I have already said chat madder put on £uffs 
not being prepared to receive it by the alum 
and tartar-water, did in fa£l give its red colour, 
but that which it died was blotted and not last- 
ing, it is therefore the salts that secure the die; 
this is common to all other colours red or yel- 
low, which cannot be made without a prepa- 
ring liquor. Now the question is, whether these 
act by taking off the remains of the oily and 
fat transpiration of the sheep, or whether that 
of the two salts, particularly that which even 
cannot be carried by luke-warm water, remains 
to catch, seize and cement the colouring atom,' 
opened or dilat<d by the heat of water to re- 
ceive it, and conhafted by the cold to retain it. 

To determine w^ich, use any alkaline s^lts, 
such as pot-ash, the-larified lays of oak- ashes, 
or any other pure lixtvial salt instead of alum 
and tartar, put in a due proportion so as not to 
dissolve the wool, and afterwards dip the stuff 
in madder liquor. This sruff will come out 
coloured, but will not last, even boiling water 
will carry off three-fourths of the colour. Now 
it cannot be said that a fixed alkaline salt is un- 



164 

fit to extraft from the pores of the wool the 
yolk or fat of the sheep, since lixivial sales are 
used with success in several cases, to take the 
grease out of stuffs of what kind soever they 
be, which water alone could not take off. It 
is also well known, that with fats foreign to the 
stuff, and an alkaline salt, a kind of soap is 
formed which water easily carries off. 

Again, take a piece of stuff died in madder 
red 5 according to the usual method, boil it some 
time in a solution of fixed alkaline salts, a small 
quantity will also destroy the colour, for the 
fixed alkali, attacking the small atoms of the 
crystal of tartar, or crude tartar, which line 
the pores of the wool, forms a soluble tar** 1 ** 
which water dissolves very easily, and conse- 
quently the pores being opened in the pA wa- 
ter of the experiment, the colouring aw? came 
out with the saline atom that sheath^ u * 

This stuff being washed in water^he remain- 
ing red colour is diluted, and ?' colour half 
brown and half dirtyremains. *h instead of 
an alkaline salt, soap is substi^d* (which is 
an alkaline salt, mitigated i>ybil)- and another 
piece of cloth died aTso in madder, be boiled 
for a few minutes, the rec^ will become finer, 
because the alkali which is in the soap being 
sheathed with oil, it co>ld not attack the vege- 
table acid, and the baling only earned off the 
colouring parts ill stuck together, and their 
numbers diminishing, what remains must ap- 
pear deeper or clearer. 



i6 5 

I must also acid, for further proof of the 
actual existence of salts in the pores of a stuff 
prepared with alum and tartar, before dieing it 
with madder, that more or less tartar gives an 
infinite variety of shades with this root only; 
for if the quantity of alum be diminished, and 
that of the tartar augmented, a cinnamon will 
be had, and even if nothing but tartar alone 
be put into the liquor, the red is lost, and a 
deep cinnamon or brown root colour is obtain- 
ed, though of a very good die -, for the crude 
tartar, which is an acid salt, has so much dis- 
solved the part which should have produced 
the red colour, that there only remained a very 
small quantity, with the ligneous fibres of the 
root, which, like all other common roots, does 
then yield but a brown colour, more or less 
deep according to the quantity used. I have 
already proved that the acid which brightens 
the red, dissolves them if too much is used, 
and divides them into particles so extremely 
minute, that they are not perceptible. 

If in the place of tartar, any salt which is 
easily dissolved be put v>ith the alum in the li- 
quor, to prepare the stuff for the madder die, 
such as saltpetre, the greater part of the mad- 
der red becomes useless, it disappears, or does 
nou stick on, and nothing is got but a very 
bright cinnamon, which will not sufficiently 
stand the proof, because the two salts used in 
the preparing liquor are not of "the hardness of 
the tartar. 



1 66 

Volatile urinous alkalis which are obtained 
from certain plants, such as the perilla, the ar- 
chil of the Canaries, and other mosses or li- 
chens, destroy also the madder red, but at the 
same time communicate another to it, for on 
experiment, madder prepared after the manner 
of archil with fermented urine and quick lime, 
produced only nut colours, but which neverthe- 
less are lasting; because there entered into the 
Jiqucor only the little portion of urinous vola- 
tile t hat moistened the madder which the boil- 
ing w 7 as sufficient to evaporate, and besides, 
the cloth was sufficiently furnished with the 
salts of the liquor made as usual, to retain the 
colouring: parts of the die. 

WheiT a pure red, that for cochineal an ex- 
ample, is 1 .Vid upon a cloth first died in blue, 
and afterwar 'ds prepared with the liquor of tar- 
tar, and alum to receive and retain this red, a 
purple or violei v * s produced according to the 
quantity of blue or^red. The red of madder 
has not this effedt, > f° r *? is not a pure red like 
that of the cochineal, and as I said above, it is 
altered by the browi * ligneous fibres of its root, 
and makes on me bh *e a chesnut colour, more 
or less deep according to the preceding intensi- 
ty of the blue first )>id P n - If this chesnut co- 
lour is wanted to havt* pu. r P* e ' cast, a little co- 
chineal must be added. 

In order to avoid this bro\ vn of the root, the 
diers who make the best reds of madder take 
great heed to use the liquor of gadder a little 
more than luke-warm -, the madu^ tarnishes 



167 

considerably by the heat of the water, extract- 
ing the particles which die brown, and unite 
themselves with the red. 

This inconveniency might be remedied, if at 
the time that the madder root is fresh a means 
could be found to separate from tl\e rest of this 
root the red circle which is underneath its 
brown pelicle, and which surrounds the mid- 
dle pith; but this work would augment its 
price, and even then it would not afford so 
good a red as cochineal. However, it might 
be attempted to die cottons red, whose price 
might bear the expenses of this preparation. 

Madder being of all ingredients the cheapest 
of any that die red and of the good die, it is 
mixt with others to diminish the price. It is 
with madder and kermes that the bastard scar- 
lets of grain are died, otherwise called half- 
grain scarlets, and with madder and cochineal 
the half-common scarlets, and the half-crimsons 
are made. 

To make the half-grain scarlet, the water 
of preparation, and all the rest of the operation 
is to be performed after the same manner as 
scarlet made of the grain of kermes, or the 
common Venetian, only the second liquor is 
composed of half kermes and half grape mad- 
der. 

For the half-scarlet and flame-colour, the 
composition and preparation is as usual, no- 
thing but pure cochineal being put in, but in 
the reddening, half cochineal and half madder 
is used : here also the svlvestre may be made use 



i68 

of, for after having made the preparation with 
cochineal, for reddening, use half a pound of 
cochineal, a pound and a half of sylvestre, and 
one pound of madder instead of cochineal 
alone. 

That the ws>ol and stuff's may be died as 
equally as possible, it is necessary that the two 
kinds of cochineal be well rubbed, or sifted, 
as also the madder, with which they must be 
well incorporated before they are put into the 
liquor. This must be observed in all colours 
■where several ingredients are mixt together. 
This half scarlet is finished like the common 
scarlet, and it may be saddened after the same 
manner, either with boiling water or alum. 

The half-crimson is made like the common 
crimson, only using half madder, and half co- 
chineal, the cochineal sylvestre may be used 
here also, observing only to retrench half of 
the common cochineal, and to replace it with 
three times as much of the sylvestre. If a 
greater quantity of the sylvestre was used, and 
more of the other taken off, the colour would 
not be so fine* Various shades may be pro- 
duced by augmenting or lessening the madder 
or cochineal. 

Purple with Madder without Blue. 

I shall finish this chapter with an experiment 
which afforded a pretty fine purple without co- 
chineal, or without the cloth being first died 
blue. I boiled a piece of cloth weighing half 



169 

an ounce, with ten grains of Roman alum, and 
six grains of crystal of tartar; half an hour af- 
ter I took it out, wrung it, and let it cool ; 
then added to the same liquor twenty-four 
grains of grape madder ; after it had furnished 
its die to this liquor, still impregnated with 
salts I dropt in twenty-four drops of a solution 
of bismuth, made with equal oarts of water and 
spirit of nitre, and then dipt my cloth again. 
Half an hour after, I took it out, wrung and 
washed it; it was almost as fine a crimson as 
if it had been done with cochineal, it had even 
a sufficient ground to have remained in that- 
state. 

I dipt it again in the same liquor, and boil- 
ed it for a quarter of an hour ; it came out a 
pretty bright purple ; this purple, tried by the 
proof of alum, rouses and emoellishes itself 
and by the proof of soap it remained of a much 
finer red than the common reds of madder. 

If the cloth be kept for several days mois- 
tened in its liquor of tartar and alum, and af- 
terwards died in fresh madder liquor, plain and 
without salts, according to the common me- 
thod till it has taken a bright cinnamon colour, 
and to this liquor be added the same solution 
of bismuth, a chesnut colour, and no purple 
will be obtained. This shows what exactness 
is required in describing the processes of die- 
ing, for want of which, all books hitherto 
published on this art have been useless, as 
they neglected to point out the necessary cir- 

P 



cumstances for the success of the desired co* 
lour. 

In this second experiment, the cloth did at 
first take too much salts, they remained too 
long in it, and there was none in the liquor of 
the die; for want of alum the purple did not 
appear, because the white earth of this salt 
could not precipitate itself with the dissolved 
parts of the bismuth, which, as has been said 
in the chapter of the kermes, carry with them 
the blue parts of the smalt, which is always 
found in the mine of bismuth, and a por- 
tion of which very probably unites itself to this 
half metal during the melting. This mutual 
precipitation is performed in operation of die- 
ing, by the help of the astringent parts of the 
ligneous fibres of the madder root. 



CHAPTER XV, 



OF YELLOW. 

HITHERTO ten sorts of drugs have been 
named for dieing yellow, "But by the 
proofs that have been made it is certain there 
are but five that are sufficiently lasting to be 
used in the good die. Several more might be 
added to these five, as yellows are easily ob- 
tained. I shall therefore first speak of these 



l 7 l 

five, which are the weld or wold, savory, greea 
wood, the yellow wood, and the fenugreek, be- 
cause these only are of the good die. The 
three first are very common plants in Europe, 
the yellow wood comes from the Indies, and 
fenugreek is found every where. Weld is most 
commonly used, as it gives the brightest die. 
The savory and the green wood are best for 
wools that are to be made greens, because 
their natural colour borders a little on the 
green; the two others give shades of yellow 
somewhat di fferent . 

The yellows most known in the art of dic- 
ing are the straw yellow, the pale yellow,: and 
the ktnon yellow. The orange yelid^ com- 
monly made are not simple colours, therefore 
I shall not speak of them here. 

For dieing yellow, the common preparing 
water with tartar and alum is used for wool or 
stuffs, in the proportion of four ounces of alum 
for each pound of wool, or twenty-five pounds 
for the hundred, and one ounce of tartar, and 
the method of boiling is the same as before. 
For welding, after the wool or stuff is boiled, 
put five or six pounds of weld in a fresh liquor 
for each pound of stuff; let the weld be in- 
closed in a linen bag, that it may not mix with 
the stuff, and that the bag may not rise to the 
top of the copper, it must be kept down with 
a heavy cross of wood. Others boil the weld 
till it has furnished all its die, and sinks itself 
to the bottom of the copper, at which time 
they place on it a cross or iron circle fitted with 



I 7 2 

a net of cords. Others take it out with a rake 
when it is sufficiently boiled: sometimes yellow 
wood and other ingredients are mixed with the 
weld, according to the shade required, by al- 
tering the quantities and the proportions of the 
salts in the preparation, and the time of boiling, 
I know by experience, that these shades may 
be obtained ad infinitum. This proof I have 
had in the essays f made with the flower of the 
virga, a very great acquisition in the art of dic- 
ing, if this plant was improved, which may be 
easily done, since it shoots a great many stems, 
and whose small ones may be easily transplant- 
ed, and produce quantities in the course of one 

year* 

Light shades of yellow are obtained in the 
same manner as all others spoken of, only the 
preparing liquor for these light yellows must be 
weaker. I recommend twelve pounds and a 
half of alum for each hundred pounds of wool, 
and the tarrar in proportion -, * but these light 
shades do not resis: the proofs as derper shades 
do, made with the full proportion of tartar. 

Some diers endeavouring to help this, leave 
the wool and stuffs for a longer time in the die, 
because they take it slower in proportion to the 
weakness of the liquor; but if they put at the 
same time in the colouring liquor, wools whose 
preparation shall have been different, they shall 
take at the same time different shades. These 
liquors more or less strong are called half-pre- 
paring liquors, or quarter-preparing liquors, 
and they make great use of them in light shades 



f73 

of wool died in the fleece, that is, before being 
spun, and which are intended for the manufac- 
turing of cloths and other mixed stuffs -, be- 
cause the more alum there is in the liquor of 
the wool, the more it is harsh and difficult to 
spin, and it must spin thicker, and consequent- 
ly the stuff is coarser. This observation is not 
of great consequence for spun wool which is 
intended for tapestry or for stuffs.. I only men- 
tion it to shew that the quantity of ingredients 
may be sometimes varied without danger. 

The yellow wood is used in chips, or in 
coarse shavings, by this means it is more divi- 
ded, and yields its die the better, and a less 
quantity will do; which way soever it is used, 
it is put into a bag, that it may not mix with 
the wool or stuffs. The same precaution is ne- 
cessary for the savory and green wood, when 
they are mixed with the weld to change its 
shade. 

I refer to the lesser die the five other ingre-* 
dients hitherto known which die yellow, and 
shall only observe here in regard to the good 
die, that the root of the dock, the bark of the 
ash-tree, particularly that which is raised after 
the first sap, the leaves of almond, peach and 
pear-trees ; in short, all leaves, barks, and roots, 
which by chewing shew some little astri£tion 3 
give yellows of the good die more or less fine, 
according to the time they are boiled, and in 
proportion to the tartar and alum used in the 
liquor: a proper quantity of alum brings these 
yellows to the beautiful yellow of the weld. If 

P 2 



*74 

the tartar is in greater quantity, these yellows 
will oorder on the orange -, and lastly, if these 
ingredients are too much boiled, let them be 
roots, barks, or leaves, the yellow obscures it- 
self, and takes brown shades. 

Although some diers use turmeric in the good 
die, which gives an orange yellow, this prac- 
tice is to be condemned, for it is a colour that 
soon passes in the air, unless it be secured by 
sea salt, which some diers do, who take care 
to keep this imposition to themselves. Those 
who make use of it in common scarlets, to 
spare cochineal, and to give to their stuff a red 
bordering on the orange, are blameable, for the 
scarlets that have been died after this manner 
lose in a short time that bright orange, as 1 have 
already said, they brown considerably in the 
air. Yet these falsifications are obliged to be 
in some measure tolerated ; for at this time that 
bright orange being in fashion, it would be 
impossible to give it to scarlet, without putting 
a larger dose of composition, whose acids would 
greatly hurt the cloth. The fustic wood is now 
preferred in scarlet. 



us 



CHAPTER XVI. 



OF BROWN, 



BROWN is the fourth of the primary co- 
lours* It is placed in this rank, because 
it enters in the composition of a great number 
of colours. The working it is different from 
others, for commonly no preparation is given 
to wool to be died brown, and, like the blue, 
it is only dipped in hot water. 

The rinds and roots of walnut, the rind of 
the alder, santal, sumach, roudoul or sovic, 
soot, &c. are used in this die. 

The rind of the walnut is the green part that 
covers the nut; they are gathered when the nuts 
are entirely ripe, then filled into great casks 
and moistened with water; they are thus pre- 
served until the ensuing year, and longer if re- 
quired. 

The santal or saunders is a hard wood brought 
from the Indies > it is commonly used ground 
to a very fine powder, it is preserved for some 
time in this state in bags, to excite (as is ima- 
gined) a slight fermentation, which they pretend 
makes it the better for use, but" I could find no 
difference. 



iy6 

This wood is most commonly ground with 
a third part of cariatour wood, which softens it 
according to those who sell it. It is greatly in- 
ferior to walnut rinds, for it hurts the wool by 
hardening it considerably if used in large quan- 
tities, therefore it is better not to use it for fine 
wools and stuffs, or at least to draw but the 
lightest shades, for then its effe£t will be of less 
consequence. It is generally mixed with galls, 
alder, bark, and sumach; it is only by this 
means that it gives its colour when used alone, 
and unmixed with the cariatour wood. It yields 
but very little with the liquor of alum and tar- 
tar unless it be rasped. Notwithstanding this 
defeft, it is tolerated in the good die, on ac- 
count of the solidity of its colour, which natu- 
rally is a yellow-red-brown : it browns and 
grows deep in the air, it lightens with soap, but 
looses less by the proof of alum, and still less 
by that of tartar. 

Of all the ingredients used for the brown die, 
the walnut rind is the best; its shades are finer, 
its colour is lasting, it softens the wool, renders 
it of a better quality, and easier to work. To 
make use of this rind, a copper is half filled, 
and when it begins to grow luke-warm, the 
rind is added in proportion to the quantities of 
stuffs to be died and the colour intended. The 
copper is then made to boil, and when it has 
boiled a quarter of an hour, the stuffs, which 
were before dipped in warm water, are put in. 
Tu y are to be stirred and turned until they 
acquire the desired colour. If it is spun wool ; 



1 77 

and that the shades required are to be matched 
with great exactness, a small quantity of rind 
is to be put in first, and the lightest are first 
made; more rind is then put in, and then the 
deepest are made ; but to work with stuffs, the 
deepest are generally made first, and as the co- 
lour of the liquor diminishes, the lightest are 
dipped; they are aired as usual to cool th^m, 
dried,' and dressed. 

Next to the walnut rind is the root; it gives 
a great number of shades and pretty near the 
same; thus they may be substituted the one for 
the other, according to the facility of obtaining 
them, but there is a difference in the manner of 
using the root. A copper is filled three-quar- 
ters full of river water ; the quantity of root 
that is thought convenient is cut into small pie- 
ces, and added in proportion to the quantity of 
wool to be died and the shade required. 

When the liquor is hot, so as not to bear the 
hand, the stuffs are put in and turned, until 
they have the desired shade, carefully observing 
to air them from time to time, and^o pas?- rhem 
between the hands by the lists, to make the 
small pieces of roots that stick fall eft to pre- 
vent their blotting ; but this may be remedied 
by inclosing the cut root in a bag, as has been 
said of the yellow root. The stuffs thar. are 
to be of lighter shades are then to be dipped, 
and to be thus continued until the root gives 
no more die. If it is spun wool, the lightest 
are to be made fiust to march them the better, 
as I have already said in speaking of other co- 



lours ; but above all, care must be taken not 
to boil the liquor at first, for then this root 
would give all its colour to the first piece of 
stuff, and there would not remain sufficient 
for the rest. 

The method of dieing wool with roots is not 
very easy, for if great care is not taken to 
bring the die to a proper degree of heat, and 
to stir the wool and stuffs so that they may be 
equally soaked in the copper, they run the ha- 
zard of being made too deep or of being blot- 
ted, which cannot be remedied but by giving 
them a chesnut, prune, or coffee colour, as I 
shall show when I treat of the colours and 
shades arising from the mixture of black and 
brown. 

To avoid this inconvenience, the stuffs must 
be continually turned round the wynch, and 
dipped piece after piece, and great care must 
be taken not to boil the roots too much, but 
always to leave some dieing substance in them. 
When the wool or stuffs are died after this 
method, they are aired, washed, and dried. 

The method of treating the alder bark dif- 
fers not from that of the walnut-root before de- 
scribed, except that there is less danger in 
boiling it at the beginning, as it gives less 
ground of colour to the stuff. It is commonly 
used for thread, and for colours that are to be 
saddened with green copperas ; it has however 
a good effect on wool for colours that are nor 
very deep, and it perfectly resists the action of 
the air and sun. 



i 7 9 

The sumach is pretty near the same; it is 
used after the same manner as the green shells 
or inward coats of walnuts ; it still gives le^s 
ground of colour, and borders somewhat on 
the green ; it is often substituted for galls in 
colours that are to be saddened, and it an- 
swers perfectly well, but must be used in larger 
quantities. 

These different matters are often mixed to- 
gether, and as they are equally good, and pro- 
duce nearly the same effect, they readily af- 
ford a variety of shades; and yet there is no- 
thing but practice can teach this variety of 
brown shades, for they entirely depend on the 
eye of the dier. 

To use these ingredients mixt, and ground 
saunders together, put four pounds of this last 
into a copper, half a pound of powdered galls, 
twelve pounds of elder bark, and ten pounds of 
sumach ; this quantity will die twenty-five or 
twenty-seven ells of cloth ; the whole is boil- 
ed, and having slackened the boil by means of 
a little cold water, the cloth is put in, turned, 
.and well stirred for two hours; after which it 
is taken out, aired and washed ; other stuffs 
that are to be of a lighter shade are then put 
in, and thus continued as long as the liquor af- 
fords any colour. 

The quantity of these ingredients is aug- 
mented or diminished in proportion to the 
height of the shade, and the stuffs or wool are 
boiled more or less accordingly, I have al~ 



i8o 

ready observed that by this means only the co- 
lour can be extracted from the saunders. 

I have here treated of the saunders and the 
manner of using it, although it should have 
been classed with the lesser dies, as this woad 
ought only to be used for stuffs of low prices, 
because of the defects before spoken of; yet 
as it is worked almost after the same manner 
as the other ingredients for dieing brown, and 
in several places is even tolerated in the good 
die, as it resists the sun and air as well as the 
others, I thought it would not be improper 
here to give the method of working it; for the 
same reason I shall now describe the method 
of dieing with soot, (hough permitted only in 
the lesser die, having less solidity than the 
rest, besides hardening the wool, and giving a 
disagreeable sme'l to the stuffs. 

The soot (wood soot) is commonly put into 
the copper the same time as the water, and the 
whole is -well boiled together ; the stuff is then 
dipt in, which is to boil more or less, accord- 
ing to the shade required; after which it is 
taken out and aired, and those put in which 
are to be lighter ; they are then, to be well 
washed and dried, but Jt is better to boil the 
soot in the warer for two hours, then let it set- 
tle, and empty the liquor into another copper, 
without mixing the soot; the wool and stuffs 
are put into this liquor, and are less hardened 
and dried than when they have been mixt with 
the soot itself, but the colour is not solid, and 
it is better not to make use of it for dieing 



i8i 

stuffs that bear a price, and more so as all its 
shades may be had by the foregoing ingredients, 
which are better, more lasting, and also soften 
the wool. 

The diers of the lesser die usually employ 
the rinds of the nut and the root of the wal- 
nut-tree for their brown colours ; the working 
of these two ingredients being common to 
diers of the greater and lesser die; but there 
are places where it is difficult to obtain them, 
and then the saunders and even soot are obliged 
to be used in their stead. 

What I have hitherto said to account for the 
solidity of the colours of the good die, may 
seem not to agree with brown colours spoken 
of in this chapter, since these are firmly applied 
on the wool without any preparation to receive 
them by the liquor of alum and tartar, and 
consequently without first introducing into the 
pores of the fibres a salt capable of hardening 
itself in the cold, and to cement the atoms, 
that colour the brown; but if on a chymi- 
cal analysis the green shell of walnuts, the 
root of the walnut-tree, the rind of alder, 
should be proved to contain, besides cheir as- 
tringent properties, a vitriolated tartar, which 
is a salt that does not calcine in the sun, and 
that is only dissolved by boiling water; this I 
say will convince that these ingredients are 
sufficient of themselves to produce on the 
stuffs, without any foreign help, the same ef- 
fect as the other drugs, whose colours are not 

Q 



I 8.2 

set in with solidity, but by the help of a salt 
capable of cementing the colouring atoms. 

The soot does not give so lasting a brown, 
because it only contains a volatile and an earthy 
salt easily dissolved, and in fact the soot being 
only composed of the lightest and most vola- 
tile parts of combustible bodies, which have 
served as food for the fire, it could not raise 
tartar of vitriol along with it, which is a salt 
that does not rise by heat, and which is also 
seldom found in the wood which we com- 
monly burn in our chimnies. 

As I am not willing to omit any thing with- 
in the limits of my knowledge, on the article 
of woollen dieing, I shall give two or three 
hints on the acid of vitriol. 

If you would have a beautiful claret on wool, 
stuffs, or cloth, boil in a copper of a good size, 
redwood or saunders in proportion to the shade 
you want, and two pounds of logwood, for 
forty pounds of wool previously scoured. 
When the ingredients have boiled half an hour, 
put a pint of oil of vitriol into a pail of cold 
water, and add it to the liquor, when the wool 
must be put in, and gently boiled for two or 
three hours. It is then to be taken up on a 
scray, that is, set across the copper to drain, 
and five or six pails of water poured over it. 
The copper must be then run down and filled 
as before with fair water, and when it is hot, 
ten pounds of copperas and four ounces of 
pearl-ashes must be added* and the wool re- 



. i8 3 

turned and well worked with a long pole tt> 
make it even. • 

The ashes (which are a fixed alkali) act upon 
the logwood, and give it a fine lustre at the 
same time. It weakens the acid of the vitriol, 
and makes way for the copperas to do its part, 
which would otherwise be kept at a distance ; 
the vitriol does not obstruct the cloth in the 
fulling-mill, for the vitriol, which some sup- 
pose to be a great enemy in the mill, is divested 
of its acid by the strong alkali contained in the 
chamber ley in scouring, and the colour remains 
perfectly vivid. If for forty pounds of wool, 
Sec. ten pounds of nut-galls were bruised and 
boiled with the above ingredients, the acid 
therein contained would produce as brilliant a 
colour, and, if possible, more holding than the 
former ; but if galls are used, the same liquor 
will do the same business when the copperas is 
added without ashes as a fresh water would 
when vitriol is used. If forty pounds of cloth, 
stuff, or worsted were boiled in a sufficient 
quantity of redwood or saunders, and one pint 
of prepared aquafortis be added to the liquor 
after the goods have boiled an hour and a half, 
and then turned well for half an hour, the co- 
lour will be vivid and fine; the copper muse 
be well cooled when the spirits are put in. 

When cloth or stuffs are died claret with oil 
of vitriol, great care must be taken to turn 
them continually over the wynch, and particu- 
larly in taking out, observe the instant the 
last end comes up ta take off into a large tub 



184 

of cold water, that all parts may cool alike, or 
the colour will be very uneven, as the vitriol 
when hot will not bear the air. 

Oil of vitriol is so useful a thing in dieing, 
that any colour, save woaded blue or green, 
may, by the help of its acid, be brought to a 
fine claret, black not excepted. 



CHAPTER XVIL 



OF BLACK. 

BLACK is the fifth of the primary colours. 
To die the best and the most lively shade, 
a vessel sufficiently large must be filled with 
soft water, and for every hundred weight oi 
cloth, thirty pounds of logwood in chips must 
be put in, with half a pail of elder bark and 
six pounds of sumach ; boil these ingredients 
together half an hour, when the cloth may be 
entered (the copper being first cooled by the 
addition of cold water) and boiled an hour and 
a half, being instantly turned on the wynch to 
prevent an unevenness of die. This operation 
being ended, which is called a preparation or 
stuffing the blacks, I shall proceed to the finish- 
A small tub is to be placed at the side of the 
copper, out of which it must be filled with hot 



liquor, in which put ten or fourteen pounds of 
copperas to dissolve ; the cloth is theif Jcept 
turning, whilst a man with a piggin is lading 
the copperas water into thfe copper -, the cloth 
is turned here at a boiling heat one hour, then 
taken out and cooled well in all parts alike; 
when thoroughly cold, return it into the cop- 
per, with two handfuls of copperas, and boil it 
gently as before for two hours, then cool it a* 
gain. 

Whilst the second cooling is carrying on 5 
six pounds of logwood, ten pounds of bark, 
and two pounds of argil, with ten pounds of 
soda or common ashes, and three pounds of 
copperas, must be added to the liquor ; these 
ingredients must be made to boil one hour, 
when the goods must be turned and worked 
one hour. Keep the wynch continually turn- 
ing, always observing that the small portion of 
air which the goods receive by turning on the 
wynch, contributes much to the beauty of the ' 
colour. Some diers instead of ashes use cham- 
ber ley, but this is a bad custom. If they would 
become good black diers* they must abandon 
their old practice, and by mixing their natural 
genius*- with reason and good sense, they will 
soon find by experience, that the acid of the 
argil adts only on the vitriolic acid of the cop- 
peras, and prevents a brown or rusty hue that 
will unavoidably proceed from the logwood ; 
the alkaline power of the ashes at the same time 
forces it to assume its natural violet colour^ 
thai if too great a quantity of logwood is not 



i86 

used, (which would certainly prejudice the co- 
lour) and this rule carefully observed, the black 
would resemble a raven's feather ; they must 
be well washed at the fulling-mill. 

I shall not entertain the reader with a tedious 
recital of the manner of treating those goods 
whose superior quality renders it needful that 
they should previously be died blue. It is suf- 
ficient to know, that they must have a less pro- 
portion of ingredients, though the operation is 
the same as that of the common black. 

When fine cloth is to be died black, great 
care must be taken not to let it hang on the 
wynch one minute ; it must be thrown off that 
instant the last comes up ; otherwise its own 
weight when wet and hot would fill it with 
wrinkles that would never remove. The same 
caution must be taken when the cloth is on the 
floor, to draw it between two men over a long 
stick by the lists, each taking hold of one end 
with their left hand, to be continued till cold 
before it be returned. 

Remarks on the Black Die. 

The most essential thing to be remarked is, 
that it prejudices and weakens the goods; for this 
reason those that are died black are soonest worn 
out; they are however in all other respefts equal 
to those that are died other colours. This de- 
fed* is chiefly to be attributed to the vitriolic 
acid of the copperas, which is only imperfectly 
saturated by the iron s as iron united to any o- 



i8 7 

ther acid, and even to vegetable acids, is capa- 
ble of producing black with astringent vegeta- 
bles. There is great cause to think that by 
substituting other combinations of this metal 
for the copperas, this inconvenience might be 
remedied. 

These are certainly good and useful essays to 
attempt. It is not without cause that the blacks 
are dire£ted to be aired between the dippings, 
as it infinitely contributes to the beauty of the 
die; for it is certain that this die is different 
from most others which lose of their colour in 
drying; this, on the contrary, acquires a great 
deal; it is universally known, that good wri- 
ting ink does not appear any thing near so 
black when fresh and recently used, as when 
dry, and that even it grows more black during 
a certain space of time. The same happens to 
the black die. The cloth is in some measure 
of a grey blackish colour immediately after the 
first dip; it only acquires the beautiful black on 
being exposed to the air; this is not the only 
example of the influence of the air on colours; 
the blue vat exhibits something like it. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

OF THE MIXTURE OF BLUE AND RED. 

IN speaking of the red I observed that there 
were four different kinds in the good die. 
We shall now explain the effect of these differ- 



i88 

ent reds placed on a stuff that has been previ- 
ously died blue. If a blue stuff is boiled in 
alum and tartar, after the manner and propor- 
tion taught in the article of red, and which is 
afterwards to be died with kermes, the follow- 
ing colours will result, viz. The king's colour, 
the prince's colour, the pansy, the violet, the 
purple, and several other like colours; but the 
kermes is seldom used for these colours, on ac- 
count of its high price, and the quantity which 
would be required, but more so, because co- 
chineal yields a finer colour for this purpose, 
and with greater ease. I have already obser- 
ed that kermes is seldom used, though there 
are several compound colours in which it pro- 
duces a very good effect, as will be more par- 
ticularly described. 

When the kermes is used to lay a red on 
blue, it is indifferent what ground of blue is 
first given, or whether it be given before or af- 
ter the stuff is died red, because the colour of 
the kermes is too solid to be changed by the 
lime of the woad vat, (unless the vat be over- 
loaded) or by the pearl-ashes in the indigo. 
Thus if the woad vat is not too old, it may be 
begun by either of these two colours at plea- 
sure, or by that which is most convenient to 
match the shade. Although I named but a 
small number of colours, a great many may 
be drawn from these two principal ones, ac- 
cording as the one or the other may be more 
predominant* 



1 89 

The mixture of blue with fire- colour scarlet is 
never used in any of their shades. To con- 
vince myself by experience, I took a piece of 
doth died in scarier, and dipt it in the blue 
vat, and died a second piece according to the 
method of dieing scarlet, having previously 
died it blue. The one and the other succeeded 
very badly, and made a kind of dull spotted 
violet; so it appeared that the two colours did 
not unite, but that they were laid each on dif- 
ferent parrs of the wooh This no doubt is'- 
caused by the acids which enter the composi- 
tion of the scarlet. But without entering here 
upon the physical reason of this operation, 
which mi^ht occasion too lon» a dissertation, 
and tedious repetition of what I have already 
said, the fact appears sufficient here : it proves 
that no beautiful colour can be had from the 
mixture of blue and scarlet \ it must be crim- 
son. 

From the mixture of blue and crimson, the 
eolumbine, the purple, the amaranth, the 
pansy, and the violet are formed ; these co- 
lours have also a great number of shades which 
depend upon the shades of the other colour, 
from whence they are derived. 

I have said so much on the primary colours, 
that no difficulty can remain in the execution 
of the compound colours, 

Stuffs or spun wool are first made of one co- 
lour, and then died of the other, precisely as 
if it was white; but it must be observed in 
this case, that the stuff be first died blue be- 



190 

fore it is made into crimson, for the reason be- 
fore given, that the alkali of the one or the 
other vat greatly obscures the brightness of the 
red of the cochineal. 

To make violets, purples, and other like 
shades, what I have already said on crimson 
is to be followed, because these colours will 
have neither brightness nor lustre, but by fol- 
lowing the precautions necessary for fine crirrir 
sons. 

From blue, and the red of madder, proceeds 
also the king's colour, the prince's colour, (but 
infinitely less beautiful than when the kermes 
is made use of; for the red of the madder is 
always obscured by the brown of its ligneous 
parts) the minime, the tan-colour, the ama- 
ranth, the dry rose, always less bright than 
when the kermes is made use of. Neverthe- 
less it is sometimes mixed with madder, as I 
have already said, to make half grained scar- 
lets, and the colours which proceed from it are 
always finer than when madder alone is used on 
asuffdied blue; madder is also mixed with 
cochineal, as in the half crimsoms, and a great 
number of very fine shades are drawn from 
them, which cannot have particular names, but 
which border on those 1 have just mentioned. 
Some of these may be made as fine as if dearer 
ingredients were made use of. It is the business 
and profit of the dier not to use the dearest, 
when the same effects may be produced by the 
cheapest ingredients. It is impossible for me 
to give any instructions on this article, since 



191 

use alone can teach it. The old liquor of 
madder and cochineal is often used, whose co- 
lours have not been entirely extracted, which 
makes a considerable saving, and the colour is 
not less good, I can say nothing positive on 
this, since the effect which will result from it 
depends on what colour may remain in the li- 
quor, and on the shade intended. 



CHAPTER XIX 



OF THE MIXTURE OF BLUE AND YELLOW* 

FROM the mixture of blue and yellow but 
one colour k produced, which is green; 
but there are a variety of shades ; the principal 
ones are, the yellow green, the light green, the 
gay green, the grass green, the laurel green, 
the molequin green, the deep green, the sea 
green, the celadon green, the parrot green, the 
cabbage green, and I shall add, the duck wing 
green, and the celadon green without blue. 
All these shades, and the intermediate ones, 
are made after the same manner and with the 
same ease. The stuff or wool died blue, liaht 
or dark, is boiled in alum and tartar, as is 
usually done to make a white stuff yellow, 
and then with weld, savory, or greening wool. 



ig2 

All these ingredients are equally good as to so- 
lidity, but as their yellows differ a little, so do 
the greens that arise from their mixture. The 
weld and the savory are the two plants that af- 
ford the finest greens. 

To make the green shades which border on 
the yellow, the stuff must be of a very light 
blue, and boiled with the common quantity of 
tartar and alum to receive the yellow ; for with- 
out these salts it would not be lasting, (but for 
a parrot or cabbage green the blue must be very 
deep) and as it is only to have a light yellow, 
the stuffs must have but a half preparation; 
I have already mentioned this ; sometimes even 
a quarter of the water for the common prepa- 
ration is sufficient. 

When the workmen make these colours, 
they often use the salts without weighing them, 
and guess at the quantity which they think ne- 
cessary for the shade intended ; a long practice 
may in some measure make them pretty exact, 
but it would be still better if they did not trust 
to it. 

I know by repeated experiments that these 
green-blue shades are as well made by giving 
the stuff the common preparation. The yellow 
which is afterwards applied to it is the more 
lasting, but on this occasion less weld is to be 
put into the liquor of the die, or any other co- 
louring matter, and the stuff must remain less 
time in the liquor, notwithstanding two reasons 
induced to the contrary ; the first and most in- 
teresting to the dier is, that they would consume 



m 

a greater quantity of drugs than is necessary ; 
.and the second, that the less alum used in the 
preparation, the more the softness and the qua- 
lity of the wool is preserved, and the less the 
first die of blue is damaged -, for the alum al- 
ways greys the blues a little. Thus it is better 
to leave the dier to his custom of regulating 
the strength of his preparation to the necessary 
pitch to give these colours. 

I have said that to die green it was necessary 
that the wool should be previously blue; be- 
cause I think that the two colours laid on in 
this order hold better, and that the colour would 
not be so good if otherwise done. Of this I 
assure myself by making the greens, of which 
I have spoken, with the five colouring matters 
already known, which make a yellow of the 
good die; I have tried a yellow of the same 
materials, the contrary, having dipped five yel- 
low pieces in the woad vat, and have had as 
fine greens as the first. I exposed both to the 
summer's sun, and they have resisted sufficient- 
ly to be esteemed of the good die; but those 
which had received the blue before the yellow 
lost the least, so that in particular circumstan- 
ces the dier must be allowed to begin first with 
yellow. But greens which have the blue co- 
lour last, will sully the linen more than the o- 
thers ; for if the blue has been first died, all 
that could be taken off was done by the alum 
liquor, which happens on the contrary when the 
blue was put on last; the only remedy for this 

R 



*94 

is, to scour the green well after it comes out of 
the copper. 

Cloth died king's blue, and greened with the 
flower of the virga aurea Canadiensis> make a 
very fine green, provided it has been boiled in 
a liquor with three times the weight of alum to 
one of white tartar ; the green is not inferior to 
that made of weld. 

I have also greened blues with ash-bark pow- 
dered ; they are of a very good die, but not of 
a fine colour, and only fit for liveries. The 
leaves of almond, peach and pear trees, &c. 
give yellows, which serve to make green shades, 
that are rather difficult to hit on at first. 

A stuff" died in the king's blue, well scoured, 
then boiled with four parts of alum, and one of 
tartar, takes a fine deep green of the shade of 
a duck's wing ; but it must be boiled for two 
hours in a liquor, with a sufficient quantity of 
the root of sharp pointed dock grossly bruised. 

This root, which grows in every hedge and 
field, is a good acquisition to the art of dieing; 
for with it, and without any other addition but 
the preparing liquor for the stuffs, it produ- 
ces an infinity of shades, from the straw co- 
lour to a pretty fine olive ; only putting more 
or less to the liquor, and boiling it from half 
an hour to three hours. These shades stand all 
manner of proof. I strongly recommend the 
cultivation of this dock in damp places, for its 
use in dieing. 

The celadon green (a particular colour) is 
much admired by the inhabitants of the Medi- 



195 

ferranean, and may in strift business be rn^de 
in the good die, by giving a blue ground to 
the stuff. But this shade of blue must be so 
weak, that it is only a milk and water colour, 
which is very difficult to give smooth and equal. 
When this shade has been happily hit, it is ea^ 
sier to give the yellow die that suits it, with the 
virga aurea than with the weld. The virga 
aurea is not known to the diers of Languedoc, 
who make most of these kind of colours, and 
as the necessary blue shades are difficult to die, 
they are sometimes permitted to die celadons 
with verdigrise, although this colour be in the 
rank of the lesser die. 

The Dutch make this colour perfectly, and 
render ic more lasting than it commonly is with 
the verdigrise. Here follows their method. 

Two coppers are set a little distance the one 
from the other. In the first is^ put for two pie- 
ces of cloth of forty-five or titty ells long, crght 
or ten pounds of white soap cut small and per- 
fe&ly melted. When the liquor is ready to 
boil, the cloths are dipped in, and boil for half 
an hour. Another liquor is prepared in the 
next copper, and when it is scalding hot a cloth 
bag is put in containing eight or ten pounds of 
Cyprus or blue vitriol, and ten or twelve pounds 
of lime, both powdered and well mixtj this 
mixture must be as equal as possible. The 
bag is moved about in the hot water, but not 
boiling, till all the blue vitriol is dissolved in 
the liquor 5 then a wynch is put up, surround- 
ed by a clean linen cloth 3 and well fastened on i 



196 

one end of the two cloths is put on the wynch, 
which is turned swiftly that the cloths may 
quickly pass through the soap liquor to that of 
the vitriol $ then the wynch is worked more 
gently, that the cloth may have time to charge 
itself with the parts of copper, which the lime 
has scattered in the liquor, by separating and 
precipitating them from the vitriol which con- 
tained them. The cloths are left in this liquor, 
which must not boil until they have taken the 
shade of the celadon that was wanted; then they 
are taken out and well aired : they must be en- 
tirely cold before they are washed, and must 
touch no wood before they are, for the wood, 
spots them ; for this reason the wynch and the 
horse are surrounded with cloth. 



CHAPTER XX. 



OF THE MIXTURE OF BLUE AND BROWN. 

LITTLE use is made of the shade which 
arises from the mixture of blue and brown : 
these are greenish greys-, or a kind of olives, 
which are only fit to match shades for tapes- 
tries; these colours are easily made when want- 
ed, and it is equal to begin by the blue or the 
brown colour to the spun wool -, but care must 
be taken that it be well scoured, as is done for 



i97 

the blue and the compound colours which are 
finished by dipping them in the vat. Any sub- 
stance that dies brown may be equally made 
use of for these colours, and some give the shade 
required better than others, 



CHAPTER XXL 



OF THE MIXTURE OF BLUE AND BLACK. 

NO particular shade arises from this mix- 
ture, except by the mixture of blue and 
grey, (which are shades of the black). In this 
case the blue must not be very deep, and is af- 
terwards worked the same as the black, except- 
ing that the colour not being so dark less cop- 
peras enters in ; but I repeat again that this co- 
lour ought only to be esteemed a shade of the 
black. Thus it may be said that no shades are 
made from blue and black used fry themselves*, 
and very few from blue and brown. 



it 2. 



i 9 B 



CHAPTER XXil. 



OF THE MIXTURE OF RED AND YELLOW. 

FROM scarlet of grain or kermes and the 
yellow are formed the aurora, the mari- 
gold, and the orange. The wool is first boil- 
ed in alum and tartar, and died in one of these 
colours, and then dipped in the second, or by 
mixing in the same liquor the kermes, the weld, 
the savory, &c. and so dieing it at once. Yet 
it is easier to attain the exact shades by dieing 
it at twice ; for this reason, the wool or the 
stuff may be alternately passed in the one or 
other liquor, till it be precisely of the desired 
colour. 

The lobster and pomegranate colours are 
done exadtly as scarlet is, that is, boiled with 
cream of tartar, cochineal, and the composi- 
tion, after which they are taken out, aired, and 
washed. For the finishing, a fresh liquor is 
prepared as for the scarlet, but without cochi- 
neal ; in its stead, a little yellow wood ground 
is substituted ; this depends on the colour the 
stuff is intended to be of. The more it bor- 
ders on the orange, the more yellow wood is 
added, diminishing the quantity of the cochi- 
Peal, 



199 

I endeavoured to make this colour after three 
different methods, and succeeded in all ; the 
first is that which I have described ; the second 
is by putting fustic instead of yellow wood, and 
this saves a great deal of cochineal, and the 
shade of the fustic is a great deal more on the 
orange than the yellow wood, but these ingre- 
dients are not lasting, and ought not to be used 
but in the lesser die. The method is with co- 
chineal alone, by augmenting the quantity of 
the composition, which rouses the cochineal, 
and turns it to orange as much as is desired - s 
but this is attended with very great inconveni- 
ence, i st, The colour becomes very expen- 
sive, because it requires more cochineal than 
common scarlet, as the great quantity of the 
composition, which is an acid, makes it lose 
part of its ground. 2d, For the same reason 
the colour always looks starved, it appears as if 
the cochineal had been spared, the composition 
having dissolved part of it. 3d, This large 
quantity of composition hardens the wool, and 
makes it more liable to be spotted by dirt and 
sharp liquor, and consequently this method is 
the worst. I mentioned that the inconveniency 
of the second was using the fustic, which is a 
wood forbid in the good die; consequently the 
first ought to have the preference, if it give the 
lobster colour as bright as the second. But 
this colour made by the yellow wood has not all 
the solidity that might be desired, as I have 
tried by exposing it to the sun ; this at first ap- 
pears extraordinary, since the ingredients used 



20G 

have all the solidity possible. But the reason 
why they are not so good in the present case is, 
that the cochineal used in the scarlet composi- 
tion and the cream of tartar are too solid ; thus 
the lobster colour loses nothing in the air. But 
the case is otherwise with the yellow wood, 
though it be very lasting on the wool boiled in 
alum and tartar, especially when a little alum 
is added to the liquor of its die; it is not the 
same as when the wool or stuff has received the 
water for the scarlet preparation in which no 
alum can enter, and consequently when these 
sort of colours are exposed to the air 5 they sad- 
den in a short time, that is, they lose part of 
their orange colour, produced by the mixture 
of the yellow with the red, and the effed of 
the air upon this colour is the same, though it 
appears different from that on all others, &c. 
that it commonly turns them pale; yet this one 
darkens and browns them by taking away part 
of its bright orangey For it is demonstrated 
by several chymical experiments, that there is 
a vitriolic acid in the air like unto that which 
may be extracted from alum. Now if a stuff 
died lobster colour was to be passed through a 
light solution of alum, the acid of the salt 
would immediately sadden it, and the red of 
the cochineal would eclipse the orange die; the 
same thing must then happen when such a co- 
lour is exposed to the air, which is impregna- 
ted with the same acid. 

Very few shades are made from the crimson 
and yellow, because of the prke of the first, 



201 

and that pretty near the same shades are made 
with madder and kermes, yellow and half scar- 
let of grain, as well as from the yellow and half 
crimson. It is with these different mixtures, 
that marigold, orange, gold yellow, and other 
like shades are made, which are simply pro- 
duced by the mixture of the yellow and red,, 
and sometimes by yellow alone. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



OF THE MIXTURE OF RED AND BROWN. 

THE reds of the kermes and cochineal are 
not used in this mixture, for madder has 
as good an effect on those which cannot be- 
come bright because of the dark obscure co- 
lour of the brown, but after they are maddered, 
they are dipt in the old liquors of cochineal or 
kermes -, yet a liquor in those ingredients is 
seldom purposely prepared, being too dear for 
such common colours which are as easily made 
with madder. The stuff is to be boiled with a 
quantity of alum and tartar, proportioned to 
the red shade of madder intended ; it is then 
passed through a liquor of this root, and af- 
terwards dipped and worked in a liquor of 
walnut roots or walnut rinds j the following 



202 

colours will be produced, viz. cinnamon, to- 
bacco, chesnut, musk, bear's hair, and num- 
berless others, by varying the ground of the 
madder from the brownest to the lightest, and 
keeping them longer or shorter in the liquor of 
the root. The process may begin within any 
one of these colours, but the red is commonly 
died first, as the liquor proper for the madder 
might hurt the brown, therefore they are not 
to be mixt as the red and yellow are some- 
times. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



OF THE MIXTURE OF YELLOW AND BROWN. 

FROM this mixture are produced the shades 
of feulemort and bear's hair. 
Soot is commonly used in these colours in- 
stead of the rinds of walnuts, or the root of 
the walnut tree, as it makes them finer, but 
care must be taken that the wool or stuff be 
well scoured after it is died, to take off the bad 
smell of the liquor; for only the clear liquor 
of the soot is to be used, as has already been 
said. The walnut rinds are preferable to the 
soot, unless obliged to match a pattern of 
feulemort with the greatest exactness^ and 



* 203 

which may sometimes be done with the wal- 
nut. 

These are the only two browns resulting 
from these shades, the sumach and the alder 
bark not giving sufficient ground. 

Wool must be boiled in alum and tartar to 
die it yellow before it is made brown.; but if it 
should not have a sufficient ground of yellow, 
it might be passed afresh through the yellow 
die, notwithstanding it has been browned, 
though in fact this method of seeking exaftly 
the shade does not make so lasting a colour as 
when the yellow was at first sufficiently died ; 
for when the yellow is died first, the brown is 
a great deal brighter. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



OF THE MIXTURE OF BROWN AND BLACK. 

FROM this mixture a great number of co- 
lours may be exti adled, as coffee, chesnut, 
prune, musk, thorn, and several like shades, 
whose numbers are almost infinite, and of great 
use. The method of working them is this: 

After the wool or stuffs have been made 
brown, as already described, and that several 
shades have previously been given; as for ex- 
ample, a stronger brown for the coffee, ches- 



204 

nut, &c. galls, sumach, and elder bark are put 
into a copper in proportion to the quantities of 
stuff to be died; the whole is boiled for one 
hour, after which green copperas is to be add- 
ed. The stuffs that are to be lightest, as the 
thorn, are first dipped in this liquor, then taken 
out, and others that are to be browner are put 
in, observing to add copperas to the liquor 
each time, and as occasion may require, which 
is known by its not browning the stuff quickly, 
thus continuing until all the stuffs are browned : 
the liquor must not boil, nor be of a greater 
degree of heat than the hand can bear. 

When the galls and other ingredients are 
boiled, cold water is added to refresh the liquor 
before the stuff is put in : this is a precaution 
that is absolutely necessary, as I have often said. 
The stuffs are first to be dipped in luke-warm 
water before they are put into the copper, lest 
since they were browned they should have 
dried ; and they must be aired when they have 
remained some time in the browning, by pass- 
ing them between the hands by the 4ists, with- 
out which they would perhaps spoil, blot, and 
be unequally died, and the brown, for want of 
airing, would not be lasting, as there would 
not be a successive congelation of the saline 
parts of the vitriol. 

I have now shown all the necessary colours 
or shades which may be produced by the mix- 
ture of the primitive colours taken two by two, 
and have given a minute description both of 
their effects and the method of producing them. 



205 



There being but few colours which may not be 
greatly varied, it depends on the judgment of 
the dier to choose the easiest, provided the co- 
lour be equally fine* 



CHAPTER XX VL 



OF THE MIXTURE OF THE PRIMITIVE COLOURS* 
TAKEN THREE BY THREE. % 

FROM blue, red, and yellow, the red olives 
and greenish greys are made, and some o- 
ther like shades of little use only for spun wool 
designed for tapestry. It would be a repetition 
to give the method of using these colours, hal- 
ving sufficiently explained it in the preceding 
pages. 

In the mixture, where blue is a shade, it is 
usual to begin with it ; the stuff is afterwards 
boiled to give it the other colours, in which it 
is dipped alternately one after the other ; not- 
withstanding they are sometimes mixed toge- 
ther, and are as good, provided they are co- 
lours which require the same preparation ; for 
example, the madder-rerj and the yellow. As 
to the cochineal and kermes, they are seldom 
used in these common colours, but only light 
colours which have a bloom or vinous hue, and 
which must be bright and brilliant, and then 

S 



206 

they are not used in the last liquor, that is, the 
stuff is only dipped in when it has received the 
other colours, unless they are to be greyed a 
litde, which is lastly done by passing them 
through the browning. It is impossible to give 
any precise rules for this work, and the least 
practice of these rules will teach more than I 
could say in many volumes, 

Olives are made from blue, red, and brown, 
from the deepest to the lightest, and by giving 
a little shade of red, the slated greys, the la- 
vender greys, and such like. 

From the blue, the red, and the black, an 
infinite number of greys of all shades are made, 
as the sage grey, the pigeon grey, the slate 
grey, the lead grey, the king's and prince's co- 
lour, browner than usual, and a variety of o- 
ther colours almost innumerable. 

From yellow, blue, and brown, are made the 
greens, goose dung, and olives of all kinds. 

From brown, blue, and black, are produced 
the brown olives and the green greys. 

From the red, yellow, and brown, proceed 
the orange, gold colour, marigold, feulemort, 
old carnations, burnt cinnamon, and tobacco 
of all kinds. 

From the red, yellow, and black pretty near 
the same as the last, and the deep feulemort; as 
also the ox hair and brown nut, and others of 
the like kind. 

I give this list of colours only as a table to 
show in general what ingredients are made use 
of to make these sorts of colours, which* also 
gartake of several others. 



2oy 

Four or five of these colours may be mixed 
together; however this is rarely done: a mi- 
nute detail on this subject would be useless* 
because all that may be done is oftentimes su- 
perfluous. I shall now only relate the manner 
in which I have seen about forty different shades 
of carnations made in spun wool ; this example 
will show what may be done in all other cases. 
There were none of those bright shades of scar- 
let in these which are aude as in the chapter on. 
that colour. 

Variety of Carnation Colours. 

All these flesh or carnations were old carna- 
tions, or shades of it, so that they were all 
obliged to be taken from the mixture of the red 
of kermes, yellow, brown, and black. 

An unequal preparation was first given to the 
wool, reserving for the lighter shades those 
whose preparing liquors had been weakest. 
When they had remained as usual four or five 
days in the liquor the lighter shades were died: 
these colours were disposed in four different 
vessels, which were always kept sufficiently hot 
without boiling. A skain of wool was imme- 
diately dipped in the liquor of the kermes for 
a minute, it was taken out, wrung, and passed 
through a liquor of weld, and an instant after 
through a brown one, and it became of the co- 
lour required by the dier ; he immediately dip- 
ped another, which remained a little longer in 
each liquor : he went on after this manner, mi 



208 

when, after being strongly wrung, and seemed 
to want a little red or any other colour, he dip- 
ped it in the liquor which it appeared to want- 
By this method he brought all his colours to 
the desired shade, and passed through the brown 
those that were required to be deeper* I was 
fully persuaded by this method of working, that 
only patience and practice were wanting to make 
all the colours which can be conceived. 

Too much caution cannot be given in this 
kind of work, to begin always with the lightest 
shades; for it often happens that they are kept 
too long in some of these liquors, and then that 
skain must be made into a darker shade. But 
when once the lighter shades are matched, and 
in a right degradation, the rest are easily made. 

What I have been speaking of, relates onty 
to wool intended for tapestry, when it is neces- 
sary that the shades be carried on with the 
greatest degree of precision, without which it 
would be impossible to imitate the flesh colours 
of the painter. 

With regard to stuffs, it seldom or never 
happens that they are made in the^e gradations 
of shades, or that so many colours are mixed 
together ; two or three are generally sufficient, 
since it has been shown what a variety of co- 
lours arose from their combination, that even 
names cannot be found for them, 

I think I have omitted nothing regarding the 
dieing of wool, or woolen stuffs in the great 
and good die, and I make no doubt but that 
by exactly following what I have Laid down^ 



209 

eyh colour and all the shades may be executed 
to the greatest perfection, as well in fleece wool, 
spun wool, as on stuffk manufactured in white. 

I think it yet necessary toadd something ia 
regard to mixed stuffs, that is, whose wool is 
mixed before the manufacturing of the stuff, 
and to teach the method by which this mixture 
of died wool is performed, to be afterwards 
carded and $pun to form a colour resulting from 
those different wools. 

Ic may be objected, that this article rather 
relates to the manufacturing of stuffs than their 
dies; but to this I answer, that sometimes co- 
lours are made by mixing wool of different' 
shades, whose colours would not easily be imi- 
tated by dying the stuff of a compound colour; 
some of these different shades composed of in- 
gredients which would require a different pre- 
paration ; whereas by dieing every part of the 
wool separately^ the mixture is made without 
any difficulty j- it cannot therefore be improper 
here to give the manner of mixing together 
wool of different colours, and I shall also give 
the manner of making mixtures for an essay or 
proof in S'Uall, (which is always necessary) to 
choose that which produces the most agreeable - 
effect* 



S 2: 



2IO 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



OF THE MANNER OF MIXING WOOL OF DIFFER- 
ENT COLOURS FOR CLOTHS OR 
MIXED COLOURS. 

Colours mixed in the Loom. 

ONE example of the method of mixing 
(after the most exact manner possible) 
wool of different colours, wTll be sufficient, and 
it will be easily applied in all other cases requi- 
red. Suppose a mixed cloth of a coffee colour 
to be made, the following is the method of the 
manufacturers of Languedoc, and pretty near 
the same is practised in all other manufactories. 
Three hundred and fifty pounds of wool are 
first died coffee colour, which is called the 
ground wool, that is, that which prevails in the 
stuffs; after which are taken five pounds of 
wool died in madder-red or kermes, and two 
pounds died in king's blue; these last are call- 
ed the wool of mixture. This wool is distri- 
buted to different persons placed in a ring in a 
large room. The factor, or he that has the 
care of the mixture, stands with a stick in his 
hand in the centre of this circle, the men being 
at six feet distance from him ; eight or ten are 



21 I 

generally employed at this work, and all the 
wool is given to them. In the present case, for 
example, six will be employed in hearing the 
prevailing wool or coffee colour, one the blue, 
and another the red ; but they must be so situa- 
ted that there may be three together who have 
the coffee coloured wool, then he that has the 
red, then .three with the coffee colour, and last- 
ly he that has the blue. When there is a great- 
er number of colours, they are thus equally 
distributed, observing to divide them as much 
as possible, the one from the other. 

The men thus disposed walk slowly round 
the factor, keeping an equal distance, and each 
step they take they cast at the feet of the factor 
a small lock of the wool they carry, with this 
difference, that those that have the red or the 
blue, having but a small quantity to distribute, 
fling but little each time, whereas the others 
must fling much more* The factor stirs the 
wool with his stick whilst the men are flinging 
it, and that the mixture should be perfect, they 
must all have distributed their wool at one and 
the same time. The factor then mixes it again, 
and gives it to the carders. 

The carding makes a perfect mixture, so that 
no particular colour is to be distinguished, and 
it appears of one uniform colour; it is after- 
wards spun, the cloth manufactured and brought 
to the mill. The importance of this mixture 
being exactly made is easily conceived, for if 
these colours were unequally distributed, the 
cloth would appear full of blots. 



212 



As in the composition of these mixtures it is 
not possible to judge exactly of the effect which 
may be produced by the combination of all 
these colours in different proportions, I shall 
give a method of making a proof in small, that 
a colour formed after this manner by a known 
proportional mixture, it may be executed in 
great, and be certain that the colour of the stuff 
will be equal to that of the pattern. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



OF THE METHOD OF PREPARING THE PATTERN 
FELTS, OR MIXTURE FOR AN ESSAY. 

THIS little work is very simple and very 
useful, as it will show in an hour what a 
mixt cloth will be after it is manufactured, and 
even when it is entirely dressed. For this pur- 
pose, wool of different colours are taken., and 
after having weighed each exactly, the mixture 
is made with the fingers in the proportion which 
is judged sufficient, but the whole in a very 
small quantity ; so that the mixture being made, 
it may not exceed the bigness of the fist. This 
wool is then moistened with a little oil, and 
carded several times with small cards, till all 
these colours are well incorporated together and 
perfectly well mixed. This wool, which is ex- 



213 

tremely open and of the square form of the 
card, is folded four times, and gently pressed 
between the hands. It is then plunged into a 
strong soap water, and putting it again between 
the hands, it is strongly pressed at different 
times, striking sometimes one hand on the o- 
ther. It is then gently rubbed betwixt the two 
hands, which hardens the wool by contracting 
it all manner of ways, and making it occupy 
less space. It is then dipped again in the soap 
water/ and continued to be felted, until it has 
acquired some consistence, and that it becomes 
like felt, and pretty near the same consistence 
as the common cloth. This felt is then a true 
copy of what the cloth will be after its manu- 
facturing i for when it has been well felted, 
that is, that the wool has been equally and care- 
fully extended under the hand coming from the 
card, it is as equal and as smooth as the cloth 
itself can be. To finish ic also as perfectly 
as the cloth, after it has been washed to take 
off the soap, it is dried and put between two 
papers, and pressed with an iron somewhat 
hot: by this means it acquires a lustre which 
makes it appear like a cloth which has been 
entirely dressed. 

If the colour of the felt is approved of, the 
mixture in great is made for the cloth, by fol- 
lowing the same proportions exactly, and it will 
certainly be like the pattern, for not only the 
wool of different colours are as entirely mixed 
and closed one to the other in the felt as in the 
clothe but the soap which has been made use of 



£14 

to felt it, has produced the same effect as thar 
which happens to the cloth in the fulling-mill, 
for there are several colours, and particularly 
those that have been browned, that is, in whose 
compositions there are shades of black and grey, 
which lose in the mill part of their browning, 
so that it must always be died of a deeper co- 
lour than intended to be after finishing : this 
defect of solidity in the browning does not hin- 
der it from standing very well the action of the 
air, but it is easily spotted by acid liquors, as 
has been before said. The colours that have 
been saddened in the woad or indigo vat are 
not liable to this, they scarce lose any thing in 
the mill. The felt produces the same effect, 
and it is certain that the stuff will not lose more 
in great at the mill than the felt did with soap; 
consequently this preliminary operatioa of the 
felt may be looked upon as a sure guide for the 
choice and assortment of wool in mixt cloths. 

These patterns are made still better with 
black soap, but it gives them a disagreeable 
smell, which is not easily taken off by repeat- 
ed washings. 

The felts, when made, may be died for stuffs, 
in which it is required that one colour should 
cover the other, for then, after the stuff should 
have been mixed with the same colours as the 
felt, it might be dipped in the same die through 
which that had been passed, and by this means 
it would be of the same colour as the felt; but 
this is not to be done to the stuff till it comes 
from the mill, has been sheered, and nothing* 



2I 5 

remains but to dress it. This method will be 
of great use when it is a mixed cloth in which 
cochineal has been used, for it saddens too much 
and spoils at the mill ; so that when it is used 
in mixed stuffs, a fresh liquor must be made, 
in which the cloth must be dipped, when it re- 
quires no more dressing than that which is gi- 
ven to cloth died white after it is come out of 
the die. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



POLISH RED, 



BEFORE I enter upon the colours of the 
lesser die, I shall give the process of a ve- 
ry excellent colour, called Polish red. 

If you would die forty pounds of wool this 
bright and holding colour, boil ten pounds of 
nut galls, in a copper sufficiently large, an hour 
and a half; then cool the liquor with cold wa- 
ter about ten degrees under a boiling heat, be- 
cause the madder should not boil, and add best 
madder in proportion to the shade required, 
from fourteen to twenty pounds. Work these 
ingredients with the wool for two hours with 
long poles, that it may die in all parts alike. 



2l6 

Rince it well, and you have the true polish red. 
If you would have a dark colour, use a little 
ashes. Observe to have the wool well scoured. 
This process will hold good in cloth and other 
things. 



217 



THE 

DIER'S ASSISTANT. 
PART II. 

CHAPTER I. 

OF THE DIEING OF WOOL BY THE LESSER DIE* 

I OBSERVED in the beginning of this trea- 
tise, that the dieing of wool, or woollen 
stuffs manufactured from it, were distinguished 
by the great and lesser die. The French regu- 
lations have fixed what the quality of the wool 
and stuffs are to be, which are to be died by 
the greater or lesser die. This distinction has 
been founded on this principle, that stuffs of a 
certain value, and which generally constitute 
the upper part of clothing, should receive a 
more solid and lasting colour than stuffs of a 
low price, which would be dearer and become 
less saleable, were they obliged to be died by 
the good die, as the good die is a great deal 

T 



2l8 

more expensive than the lesser, and that stuffs 
of low price, which are permitted to be died by 
the lesser die, are generally used to make 
linings, so that they are little exposed to the ac- 
tion of the air, and if they are put to other 
uses they are soon worn out, on account of the 
weakness of their texture ; and consequently 
there is no necessity for their colours being so 
lasting as that of a stuff of a much longer du- 
ration. 

I have related in the preceding treatise, with 
the greatest exactness and precision jn my 
power, the method of executing by the good 
die all imaginable colours ; I shall do the same 
in that which concerns the lesser die, and shall 
lay down the method of making the same co- 
lours with other ingredients than I have hitherto 
spoken of, and which, though they have not 
the solidity of the first, often have the advan- 
tage of yielding more lively colours 5 besides 
which, the greater part give a smoother colour, 
and are worked with greater facility than the 
ingredients of the good die. 

These are the advantage* of these substances 
which are called false ingredients, and though 
it is to be wished that their use was not so ge- 
neral, it must be agreed that they have their 
utility for stuffs less exposed to the air, or 
whose colour does not stand in need of a long 
duration. I might also add, that the colours 
are most commonly sorted with greater ease, 
and with more expedition, in the lesser die than 
can be done in the great. 



219 

I shall not follow the same order for this 
kind of die as I did for the good, since in this 
no primary colours are known. Few serve as 
a ground for others : the greatest part do not 
arise from a combination of two or several sim- 
ple colours. In short, there are colours, such 
as the blue, &c. which are seldom or never 
made in the lesser die. 

This is the order which I propose to follow, 
and shall first set forth the names of all the in- 
gredients which particularly belong to the lesser 
die, and then give the method of using each of 
these ingredients, and the extraction of all the 
colours they can yield. It will be found that 
several of these ingredients produce similar 
colours, so that it would have been impossible 
to have treated of them separately, without 
tiring the reader with tedious and troublesome 
repetitions. 

The ingredients are flock or goat's hair mad- 
dered, archil, logwood^ brasil, fustic, roncou, 
grains of Avignon, turmeric, or terra merrita. 
I shall not here speak of the sanders or soot, 
though these ingredients particularly belong tp 
the lesser die \ I have already given the man- 
ner of using these last. 



220 



CHAPTER II. 



OF THE D1EING OF FLOCK OR GOAT S HAIR. 

THERE are two preparations very different 
one from the other in the dieing of flock : 
the first is with madder, and belongs to the 
great and good die; the second is to dissolve 
it and make use of it; this belongs to the les- 
ser die. The dieing with flock was formerly 
permitted in the good die, but was rather on 
account of its being extracted from madder, 
than by any experiment that had been made 
concerning its durability. I tried it with great 
attention, and found it beyond any doubt that 
there is no colour that resists the air less. It 
is certainly for this reason that it was restrained 
to the lesser die in the new regulation of France 
in 1737. Yet, as By the same regulation, it 
is not permitted to the diets of the lesser die 
to use madder, nor even to keep it in their 
houses; it has been enacted, that only the 
diers of the great die should be suffered to 
madder flock, and those of the lesser die to 
dissolve and use it. 

This maddering of flock ought to have found 
a place in the foregoing treatise, but that I 
chose rather to class together all operations that 



221 

have any necessary connection, than to stick 
too scrupulously to that distinction of the 
great and lesser die, which is the particular ob- 
ject of the civil government of that art, and 
which upon some occasions might have made 
me fall into some obscurities^ or run into con- 
tinual repetitions; besides, the government of 
dieing is not the art considered in itself. 

To madder the flock or goat's hair, four 
pounds of either of them is cut and well sepa- 
rated, that the die may penetrate the better. 
It is boiled two hours in a sufficient quantity 
of sour water -, then it is drained for an hour, 
and put into a middling copper, half filled 
with water, with four pounds of roach alum, 
two pounds of red tartar, and one pound of 
madder. The whole is boiled for six hours, 
putting in hot water as the liquor wastes; it is 
left all night and next day in this liquor; the 
third day it is taken out and drained in a bas- 
ket. Some diers let it remain eight days^ but 
it often happens that by this delay in a copper 
vessel it is tarnished by the liquors corroding 
a part of the copper ; a middling copper is 
then filled to the two-thirds with half sour wa- 
ter, and half common water and when the li- 
quor is ready to boil, eight pounds of mad- 
der, well cut and crushed between the hands, 
is aJded. When the madder is wtrll mixed in 
the liquor, four pounds of flock or- hair is put 
in dnd boiled for six hours; it is then well 
washed, and the next day it is maddered a 
second tune after the same manner, only put- 

Ta. 



222 

ting in four pounds of madder instead of eight, 
which were before used. After this second 
maddering, it is well washed and dried ; it is 
then almost black and fit for use* 

Ir appears by this operation, that four pounds 
of flock or hair is loaded with thirteen pounds 
of the die of madder, yet there still remains 
some die in the liquor, which is then called an 
old maddering, and which is preserved for use 
on certain occasions, as in tobacco, cinnamon 
colour, and several others. 

When the flock is thus maddered by the dier 
of the great die he sells it to diers of the lesser, 
who have then the liberty to dissolve and use 
it; this is the common method, which has ma- 
ny difficulties, and is known but to few diers. 
Madder is hereby made fine. 

About half an hour after seven in the morn- 
ing, six pails full of clear water are put into 
a middling copper, and when the water is luke- 
warm, five pounds of pearl-ashes are put in : 
the whole is boiled till eleven, and the liquor 
is then considerably diminished, so as to be 
held in a lesser copper, into which it is emptied, 
^observing first to let the dregs of the pearl-ashes 
subside, that none but the clear may be used. 

A pail full of this liquor is afterwards put 
into the middling copper, having first scoured 
it well, and a little fire made under it -, the four 
pounds of maddered flock are scattered in by 
degrees, and at the same time a little of the 
lukewarm and saline liquor of the small copper 
is added to keep down the boiling, which rises 



223 

from time to time to the top of the copper, in 
which the operation is performing. 

When all the flock and the liquor of the little 
.copper are put into tKe middling one, a pail 
full of clear water is put on the dregs of the 
pearl-ashes remaining in the little copper. This 
water serves to fill the middling one as the li- 
quor in it evaporates. All this flock melts, or 
is dissolved by the a&ion of the pearl-ashes, 
and after the first half hour, not the least hair 
is to be perceived. The liquor is then of a ve- 
ry deep red. The whole is then boiled with- 
out any addition, till three in the afternoon, 
that the whole dissolution of the flocks may be 
the more exactly performed. Then a stick is 
placed upon the copper, and upon this stick is 
placed a pail of fermented urine, in which pail 
a small hole has been previously made towards 
its lower parr, and a little straw put into it, that 
the urine may very slowly run into the copper; 
whilst it is running, the liquor is made to boil 
strongly, and this urine makes good what may 
be lost by evaporation. This operation conti- 
nues five hours, during which time three pails 
full of urine are discharged into the copper, 
being made to run faster when the boil is stron- 
ger, than when moderate. It is here to be ob- 
served, that, on account of the small quantity 
of flock in the experiment which I lay down 
here, five pounds only of pearl-ashes are order- 
ed ; for when thirty pounds of flock are dissol- 
ved at one time, which is the common custom 
of the French diers, they put twelve ounces of 
pearl-ashes to each pound of flock, 



During the whole time of this operation, a 
strong volatile smell of urine is emitted, and 
there swims on the surface of the liquor a brown 
scum, but much more so after the addition of 
the urine. The liquor is known to be suffici- 
ently done when this rises no more, and that 
the boil rises but gently, that is what happened 
to the operation now related, at eight in the 
evening. The fire is then raked out, the copper 
covered,, and thus left to the next day. Pat- 
terns had been taken at different times of the 
colours of the liquor from three to eight in the 
evening, by dipping in small pieces of paper; 
the first were very brown, and they became 
continually lighter, and united themselves more 
and more, in proportion as the volatile part of 
the urine acted on the colouring parts of the li- 
quor. 

Nothing now remained but to die the wool 
in the liquor thus prepared, and which is called 
melting of flock; this is the easirst work be- 
longing to the dier. A quarter of an hour be- 
fore the dieing is begun, a little piece of very 
clean roach alum is put in, and the copper is 
well raked to melt it. As this liquor which 
was in the middling copper had been covered 
the whole night, and the fire had not been put 
out, the liquor was still so hot as not to suffer 
the hand. The clearest was taken out and 
brought into a small copper, with a sufficient 
quantity of lukewarm water, some wool died 
yellow with weld was dipped in it; it immedi- 
ately became of a fine orange, bordering on. the 



225 

flame colour, that is of the colour called naca- 
ret y and known to the diers by the name of na- 
caret of flock, because it is commonly made 
with melted flock. 

Twenty hanks of white wool were dipped 
one after the other in the same liquor, begin- 
ning by those that were to have the deepest 
ground, and leaving them longer or shorter in 
the liquor according to the shade required. An 
assortment was made after this manner from the 
nacaret, or bright orange red, to the cherry 
colour. It ought to be observed, that in pro- 
portion as the liquor was consumed, fresh was 
taken from the middle sized copper, great care 
being taken not to stir the sediment at the bot- 
tom -, a little fire was also kept under the small 
copper, to keep the liquor always in the same 
degree of heat. The wool is thus dipped until 
the whole liquor is used, and all the colour 
drawn, out. But the lighter colours could not 
be died in it; for when the colour of the liquor 
is once weakened, as it ought to be for these 
colours, it is generally loaded with filth, which 
would take off the brightness required in these 
shades. 

The following is the method of making 
shades lighter than the cherry colour. A cop- 
per is filled v/ith clear water, and five or six 
hanks of wool died of the deepest die from the 
flock, that is, from the shade that immediately 
follows the nacaret, are put in. As soon as the 
water boils, it takes out all the colour the wool 
had, and it is in this frcsii liquor that the other 



226 

wool that is to be died is dipped, from the cher- 
ry colour to the palest flesh colour, observing 
always to begin by the deepest shades. 

Most of the diers who do not know how to 
melt the flock, or who will not give themselves 
that trouble, buy some pounds of this scarlet 
of flock, which they use after this manner, to 
make all the lighter shades, which, as has been 
said, is done with much ease. This operation 
shows what little dependance can be put on the 
solidity of a colour that passes so quickly in 
boiling water. And in fact, it is one of the 
worst colours there is in dieing, and on that ac- 
count the new regulation has taken it from the 
geat die, and permits it in the lesser for the 
reasons above mentioned. 

Thus a very bad colour may be had from an 
ingredient which, of all those that are used in 
dieing, is perhaps the best and the most dura- 
ble ; yet when this hair, died with all the ne- 
cessary precautions to insure the colour as much 
as possible, comes to be dissolved or melted in 
a liquor of pearl-ashes, its colour, by acquiring 
a new lustre, loses all its solidity, and can only 
be ranked in the number of the falsest dies. 

It may appear that the little solidity of this 
colour proceeded from the wool having no pre- 
paration, and retaining no salt before its being 
dipped in the dissolved flock; but I found that 
this was not the cause; for I dipped in this li- 
quor wool boiled as usual, and other wool dif- 
ferently prepared, without finding that the co- 
lour of the latter had acquired any more soil - 



227 

dity ; the lustre was less, that is, it came out 
more saddened than the wool that had been 
died in it without any preparation. 

Though I have said that wool receives no 
preparation before its being died in a dissolu^ 
tion of flock, it is nevertheless necessary to sul- 
phur those that are to make clear shades, for 
that gives them a great brightness and lustre, 
as the dissolved flock is applied on a ground a 
great deal whiter than it would be without the 
vapour of the sulphur, which cleanses it of all 
its filth. The same thing is done for the light 
blues, and for some other colours; but this o- 
peration is seldom made use of but for wool 
intended for samples or tapestry. 

Sulphuring of IVooL 

The diers do not do this, because of the stink 
of the sulphur, or rather ta avoid the trouble. 
Nevertheless, to give an idea of it, the white 
wool is suspended on hoops or perches in a 
close room, and under this wool chaffing dishes 
are placed with lighted coals, on which powder- 
ed sulphur is cast. The room-door is after- 
wards shut, s that the smoke may be the longer 
retained and act on the wool, which is to re- 
main till it is entirely whitened ; it is then call- 
ed sulphured woo! ; and this is the preparation 
it must receive to give a brightness to the rose, 
cherry, and flesh colours, which are made from 
the dissolution of flocks. 



228 



The Theory of the Dissolution of Flock. 

The reason why from an ingredient, such as 
the root of madder, perishable colours are pro- 
duced from dissolved flock, is not difficult to 
assign. In the first operation of maddering the 
flock, the red of the madder was fixed in the 
hair by the preparation of alum and tartar as 
much as possible, but as it is overloaded with 
this colour, it is easy to conceive that the su- 
perfluous colouring atoms being only applied 
on those which already filled the pores of this 
hair, these alone are really retained in the pores, 
and are cemented by the salts. The hair thus 
reddened by the madder so as to become almost 
black, would lose a great deal of the intensity 
of its colour, if it was boiled in any liquor, 
was it even common water; but to this water, 
pearl-ashes are added in equal weight with the 
flock already died, which is to be melted in it; 
consequently there is a very strong lixivium of 
fixed alkaline salts made. I have already said 
in another place, in the foregoing treatise, that 
very strong alkaline leys destroy the natural 
texture of almost all animal substances, as also 
gums and resins; in short, that an alkaline salt 
is their dissolvent. In the present operation, 
the lixivium or the pearl-ashes is very concen- 
trated, and very acrid, and consequently in a 
state to melt the hair, which is an animal sub- 
stance, which it does very quickly, and with a 
strong fermentation, which shows itself by the 



229 

strong and violent elevation of the liquor ; con- 
sequently it- destroys the natural texure of each 
of these hairs, and the sides of the pores being 
at the same time broken and reduced to very 
minute parts, these sides having neither con- 
sistence nor spring to retain these s Its, and the 
colouring particles that were sticking to them. 
Therefore the animal particles of the hair, the 
colouring parts of the madder, the saline parts 
of the liquor^ and the alkali of the pearl-ashes, 
are all confounded together, and term a new 
mixture, which cannot afford a lasting die, be- 
cause from these saline parts mixed together 
there cannot be formed a sufficient quantity of 
salts capable of crystallization, and producing 
moleculas, which can resist cold water and the 
rays of the sun. In short, it could not form a 
tartar of vitriol, because the alkaline salt is in 
too great a proportion. 

To rouze the deep and overloaded die of the 
madder first applied on the flock, and afiei con- 
founded by the melting of this hair in che - <\ 
ture already spoken of, putrified urine is adVed 
in a considerable quantity ; this is a further ob- 
stacle to crystallization ; consequently wool not 
►prepared by other salts, and dipped in a liquor 
thus composed, can only be cohered by a su- 
perficial colour, which finds no prepared pores, 
or any thing saline in those pores, which may 
ce merit the colouring atoms; therefore such a 
die must quit its subject on the least effort of 
what nature soever it be, 

U 



230 

But wool prepared by the liquor of tartar 
and alum, does not take a more lasting colour, 
in the liquor of the melted flock, than wool 
not prepared by these salts ; for a liquor which 
abounds with fixed alkaline salts attacks the tar- 
tar left of the preceding preparation in the pores 
of the wool. This tartar changes its nature, 
and from being hard to dissolve, as it was be- 
fore, it becomes a soluble tartar, that is, a salt 
that dissolves very easily in the coldest wat r. 

It may perhaps be objected, that particles of 
alum remain in the pores of the prepared wool, 
that from these particles of alum, as well as 
from a portion of the same salt which is put in- 
to the liquor, reddened by the melting of the 
flock, the alkali of the pearl-ashes must form a 
tartar of vitriol, which, according to my prin- 
ciples, ought to secure the die. 

To this I answer, that the urine hinders the 
combination of these two salts, which is neces- 
sary for the formation of the tartar of vitriol; 
if even this hindrance did not exist, the quan- 
tity of this salt, which I have named hard in 
another place, could not be sufficient to cement 
the colour in the pores of the wool, or put them 
in a state to retain the colouring atoms. Fur- 
ther, the sharpness of the alkaline salts in this 
liquor, which is capable of entirely dissolving 
the hair boiled in it, would equally be able to 
dissolve the wool, were it boiled as the flock 
was. , But yet, though a degree of heat is not 
given to the liquor, which would be necessary 
for this totaldestruction, it is easily conceived, 



231 

that if the sum of the destroying action is not 
the same, at least a part exists, which is still 
sufficient to corrode the sides of the pores of 
the wool, to enlarge them greatly, and to ren- 
der them unfit to retain the colouring atoms ; 
to this may be added, that the hair is melted 
in the liquor, and consequently mixed with the 
colouring parts of the madder in a great quan- 
tity; that these are heterogeneous parts, which 
prevent the immediate contact of the same co- 
louring parts, and that from all these obstacles 
taken together, the colour must be rendered 
less durable and less holding than any of the 
lessor die This, experience sufficiently proves, 
for if a skain of red wool died in this manner, 
hg pur jn-o boiling water, the colour will be 
taken off entirely. 



CHAPTER III. 



OF THE MANNER OF USING ARCHIL. 

ARCHIL is a soft paste, of a deep red, 
which being simply diluted in hot water 
affords a number of different shades; there are 
two kinds, the most common which is not so 
one or so good, is generally made in Auvergne, 
fif a lichen or sort of moss, very common on 
the rocks of that province: it is known under 



2 3 2 

the name of i\rchil of Auvergne, or Land Ar- 
chil. The other is a great deal finer and bet- 
ter; it is called the Archil of Herb, or of the 
Canaries, or Cape Verd Archil j it is prepared 
in France, England, Holland, and other places. 

The workmen who prepare this herb Archil, 
make a secret of the preparation, but the par- 
ticulars may be found well related in a Treatise 
of M. Pierre Antoine Micheli, which bears for 
title, Nova Plantarum Genera* therefore I shall 
nor her- give the method of preparing it. * 

When a dier wants to assure himself that the 
Archil will produce a beautiful effect, he must 
extend a piece of this paste on the back of his 
hand and let it dry, afterwards washing his 
hand with cold water. If this spot remains 
with only a little of its colour discharged, he 
may judge the Archil to be good, and be assu- 
red it will succeed. 

I shall now give the method of using the 
prepared archil, but 1 shall only treat of that of 
the Canaries, and just mention the difference 
bptw^en it and that of Auvergne. A copper is 
filled with clear water, and when it begins to 
be luke-warm, the proper quantity of archil is 
put in and well stirred: the liquor is afterwards 
heated almost to bolting, and the wool or stuffs 
are dipped without any preparation, only keep- 
ing those longer in that are to be deeper. ^ 

When the archil yields no more colour at this 
decree of hear, the liquor is made to boil to 
extract the re rfvain -ler > but if it is archil of Au- 
vergne, the colours drawn after this manner 



2 33 

will be sadder than the first, on account of the 
boiling o* the liquor. The Canary archil, on 
the contrary, will lose nothing of its brightness, 
if even the liquor boiled from the beginning. 
This last, though dearer, yields much more die, 
so that there is more profit in making use of it, 
besides its superiority over the other in beauty 
and goodness of colour. The natural colour 
which is drawn both from the one and the other 
archil, is a fine gris de-!in> bordering on the 
violet. The violet, the pansy, the amaranth, 
and several like colours are obtained from it, 
by giving the stuff a ground of blue more or 
less deep before it is passed through the archil. 

It must here be observed, that to have the 
clear shades of these colours as bright as they 
ought to be, the wool ought to be sulphured, 
as was said in the foregoing chapter/either be- 
fore it is dipped in the archil, for the gris-de- 
lin, or before it is died blue for the violet and 
other like colours, 

This way of using archil is the simplest, but 
the colours that proceed from it are not lasting. 
It may be imagined that the colours would be 
better by giving a preparation to the wool pre- 
vious to its being died, as is practised in the 
great die, when madder, cochineal, weld, &c. 
are u ed; but experience shews the contrary, 
and I have used the archil on wool boiled in 
alum and tartar, which did not re ist the air 
more than that which had received no preparat- 
ion. 

U a 



2 34 

There is, notwithstanding, a method of 
using the Canary archil, and giving it almost 
as much duration as the rnnsr part of the in- 
greuients of the good die; but then its natural 
colour of gris-de-lin is taken off, and it ac- 
quires a red or scarlet, or rather a colour known 
under the name of bastard scarlet. The co- 
lours of the kermes or Venetian scarlet, and 
several other shades that border on the red and 
the orange, may also be drawn from it. These 
colours are extracted from the archil by the 
means of acids, and all those that are thus 
made may be looked upon as much more last- 
ing than the others, though strictly speaking, 
they aie not of the good die. 

There are two methods of extracting these 
red colours from the archil. The first is by 
incorporating some acid in the composition it- 
self that is made use of to reduce this plant to 
a paste (such as is known to the diers under 
the name of archil). I have been assured that 
it mav be made violet and even blue, which 
probably is done by the mixture of some al- 
kalis, but I must confess I could not succeed 
in it, although I made above twenty trials for 
that purpose. I shall now proceed to the se- 
cond method of extracting from archil a beau- 
tiful and pretty lasting red, and which I exe- 
cuted four times with success. 

Bastard Scarlet by Archil. 

Prepared archil from the Canaries is diluted 
as usual in warm water/ and a small quantity 



*35 

of the common composition for scarlet is ad- 
ded, which is as has been shown in the preced- 
ing treatise, a solution of tin in aqua-regia, 
weakened with water - 9 this acid clears the li- 
quor immediately and gives it a scarlet colour. 
The wool or stuff is then to be dipped in this 
liquor, and left till it has received the shade 
required. If the colour should not have bright- 
ness enough, a little more of the composition 
must be put in, and pretty near the same me- 
thod must be followed as in the dieing of com- 
mon scarlet: I tried to make it in twodiquors 
as the scarlet, that is, to boil the stuff with 
the composition, and a small quantity of ar- 
chil, and afterwards to finish it with a greater 
quantity of both, and I succeeded equally; 
but the operation is longer after this manner, 
and I have sometimes made as fine a colour in 
one liquor. Thus the dier may take his choice 
of either of these methods. 

I cannot exactlv fix the quantity of ingre- 
dients in this operation. First, as it depends 
on the shade that is to be given to the stuff. 
Second, as it is a new process in dieing, I have 
nor had sufficient experiments to know with 
exactness the quantity of archil and composi- 
tion which ought to be used : the success also 
depends on the greater or lesser acidity of the 
composition. In short, this method of dieing 
with archil is so easy, that by making tv/o or 
three trials in small, more knowledge will be 
acquired from it than I could teach in a large 
volume : 1 must only add, that tne more the 



236 

colour drawn from this ingredient approaches 
the scarlet, the more lasting it is. I have made 
a great number of shades from the same ar- 
chil, and which consequently only differed by 
the greater or less quantity of the composition, 
and I always found that the more the archil 
went from the natural colour, the more lasting 
it became, so that when I brought it to the 
shade known by. the name of bastard scarlet, 
it withstood the action of the air and essay 
proof almost as well as that which is commonly 
made with cochineal or madder. 

If too much composition be put in the li- 
quor, the wool will become of an orange co- 
lour, and disagreeable. The same thing also 
happens with cochineal, so that this is not an 
inconvenience peculiar to this die - y besides it 
is easily avoided by proceeding gradually in 
the addition of the composition, and by put- 
ting a small quantity at first. 

I have tried the different acids in this scar- 
let composition, but none succeeded well ; vi- 
negar did not give a sufficient redness to the li- 
quor, and the stuff died in it only took a co- 
lour of lees of wine, which even was not more 
lasting in the air than that of the archil in its 
natural state, and other acids saddened the co- 
lour. In short, it appears that (as in scarlet 
with cochineal) a metallic base extremely white 
must be united to the red of the archil, and 
this basis is the calx of tin. I have repeated 
the same operation with the archil of Auvergne, 
but the colours were not near so fine or so 
good. 



2 37 



CHAPTER IV. 



OF LOGWOOD OR CAMPEACHV. 



THE campeachy wood, known under the 
name of logwood, is of great use in tne 
lesser die, and it were to be wished that it was 
not used in the good die, for the colour which 
that wood produces loses its brightness in a 
shore time, and even disappears m some places 
on being exposed to the air; the low price of 
th>s drug in some measure tolerates its use ; but 
the principle reason of us.ng it is," that by the 
means of different preparation* and salts it af- 
fords a great number of 'colours and shades, 
which are not easily made by the ingredients of 
the good die alone. Yet it is possible, as I 
have said before, to make all these colours 
without the help of logwood ; therefore it was 
proper to forbid the use of this ingredient in 
the good die. 

Logv\ood is necessary to soften and velvet 
the blacks ; it is this velvet hue that gives that 
excellency to the Sedan blocks. I shall now 
add some little matter concerning the other co- 
lours in which this wood is used, and I shall 



238 

observe, that when any wood whatsoever is 
used in dieing, it must be cut into small sha- 
vings or chips, and put into a bag, that it may 
not stick to the wool or stuffs -> for the rough 
chip;, will not only tear the goods, but blot 
them in those places to which they stick. 

Logwood is used with galls and copperas for 
all the shades of grey which border on the slate 
or lavender, the pigeon grey, the lead grey, 
and such like. To make these, a copper is 
filled wich clear water, and a proper quantity 
of galls is added ; this must be proportioned 
to the quantity of stuffs to be died, and to the 
depth of the ohade required. A bag of log- 
wood is put into this liquor, and when the 
whole has boiled and cooled, the stuff is dip- 
ped in it, ad-iing by little and little some cop- 
paras previously dissolved in water. 1 cannot 
fix any exact proportion of ingredients, as the 
diers of the lesser die are not accustomed to 
weigh them ; they work by the eye, and their 
business being to match low-priced stuffs for 
linings of cloths for which they have the pat- 
terns, they first make them lighter than is 
wanted, and sadden them by adding copperas 
till they are come to the shade required. If 
they find there is not logwood sufficient, they 
add more; they do the same when they have 
several stuffs to pass through the same liquor, 
when they find the wood they have given has 
yielded all its die. This work is not difficult, 
and only requires practice to judge pretty 
nearly the quantity of ingredients to be used, 



2 39 

and to judge by the stuff, while wet, whether, 
when dry, it wouid have the intended colour, 
which is done by strongly wringing the end, 
and blowing on it strongly : by this means, 
the greatest part of the humidity, which has 
by twisting been brought to the surface of the 
stuff, is driven off > then for an instant the co- 
lour is seen pretty nearly such as it will be when 
dry j but this must be done by a quick eye, 
for in' a moment after the adjacent moisture is 
communicated to this dry place, and then you 
may be deceived. 

A pretty fine violet is also made with log- 
wood, by fiist boiling the wool as usual with 
alum and tartar, and afterwards passing it 
through a liquor of logwood in which a little 
alum is dissolved. But it is made much finer by 
bluing and alurning the stuff first, then dipping 
it in a liquorof Brazil mixt with a little log- 
w >od j this violet, though o* the lesser die, is 
much betier than the former, because- the blue 
ground always sustains the colour, and makes 
it more holding. 

The logwood also affords a blue colour, 
but it lasts so ill that this wood is seldom ujscd 
for dieing blue. Yet if from curiosity you 
wish to make a trial, you need only prepare a 
liquor with logwood, and mix a little Cyprus 
or blue vitriol in it, and dip the stuffs in this 
without any other preparation, and you have a 
fine blue. 

By the same means, green may be made in 
the same liquor. For this purpose, logwood, 



240 

French berries or grains of Avignon and ver~ 
digrise are put into a copper j this mixture 
gives the liquor a beautiful green colour ; the 
wool may be then dipt to the height desired, 
and may be of any desired shade, by putting 
in more or less of the logwood and Avignon 
grains. But this colour is not better than the 
blue, and both ought to be excluded the art of 
dieing : I have given the process, merely that 
I might omit nothing which came to my know- 
ledge concerning the art. 

The use to which logwood is most com- 
monly applied in the lesser die is for plumb* 
prune colours, purples and their shades. 

This wood joined with galls, readily gives 
all its colours to wool that has a ground of 
blue 5 it is saddened with a little green coppe- 
ras, which browns them, and by this means 
some shades may be easily obtained which are 
mucn more difficult to hit in the great die, as 
the different degrees of saddening are much 
more difficult to match in a blue vat, than by 
the help of the iron of the copperas. But these 
colours fade away very soon in the air, and in 
a few days a great difference is seen between 
the parts that were exposed to the air and those 
that were covered. 

Having experienced, as I said in the pre- 
ceding chapter that the scarlet composition 
changed the colour of the archil, and made it 
more lasting, I tried what effect it might pro- 
duce on the logwood; but what appeared sin- 
gular to me was, that whatsoever quantity of 



241 

composition I put into this liquor, it never lost 
its violet colour. Being desirous to put this to 
a further trial, I died a piece of cloth with log- 
wood, and put into the liquor a quantity of com- 
position, pretty near equal to that which I would 
have put for an equal dose of archil : the cloth 
took a pretty good violet colour. This cloth 
was put in the weather for twelve summer days, 
and the colour proved no better than if no com- 
position had been used. By adding a small 
quantity of crystals of tartar to another liquor 
composed as the former, I had a more lasting 
colour, but considerably different. 

The Raven Grey. 

The raven grey on worsted or stuffs is per- 
formed in the following manner. 

In a copper sufficiently large for sixty pound 
weight, dissolve eight ounces of alum, and 
work the worsted on sticks very quick for the 
space of half an hour at a boiling heat; then 
take it up, and add to the same liquor three or 
four pounds of copperas, and woik it at a boil- 
ing heat for half an hour longer; while this is 
performing, the worsted must be washed, and 
one pail full of logwood chips must be boiled 
in another copper about twenty minutes ; the 
worsted must then be turned very quick in the 
logwood decoction about half an hour, when it 
must be taken out, and returned about ten or 
fifteen minutes in the decoction of alum and 
copperas, as at first. This last operation is ab- 

X 



242 

solutely necessary, as it contributes much to the 
beauty and lustre of the colour, by discharging 
the gross particles of the logwood, and leaves 
a beautiful raven grey. This process will hold 
good for thin goods and coarse cloch, but a less 
proportion of logwood will do* 



CHAPTER V. 



OF SAXON BLUE AND GREEN. 

I PLACE here among the lesser dies that call- 
ed Saxon blue and green, which has been for 
some time greatly in fashion, being finer and 
brighter than any blue or green hitherto known 
either in the greater or lesser die, but it bears 
no proof, and in twelve days exposition to the 
sun, it loses a great part of its colour, 

Blue on Cloth> Stuff, or Tarn. 

Put into a glazed earthen-pot four pounds of 
good oil of vitriol, with twelve ounces of choice 
indigo, very finely ground and sifted; stir this 
chymical mixture very hastily and frequently in 
order to excite a fermentation, and break the 
lumps with a stick whose bark has been strip- 
ped off. It is customary with some diers to put 
into tfhis composition a little antimony or salt- 



^43 

peire, taftar, chalk, alum, or other things; but 
I find it sufficient to mix the oil and indigo a- 
lone, and the colours will be finer, for those 
neutral salts destroy the acid of the vitriol and 
sully the colour. In twenty-four hours it is fie 
for use; then a copper of a good size is to be 
filled with fair water, (into which one peck of 
bran is put in a bag) and made pretty warm ; 
the bran, after yielding its flour, must be taken 
out, and the chymic mixed well with water, in 
a piggin, is put in according to the shade re- 
quired, having first put in a handful of pow- 
dered tartar ; the cloth, &c. is to be well wet, 
and worked very quick over the wynch for half 
an hour. The liquor must not be made hotter 
th m that for madder red. Observe, the hot 
acid of the vitriol would cause the blue to in- 
cline to green if too much heat was given. The 
cloth, stuff*, or yarn must be turned in rhis li- 
quor vey quick for half an hour, and having 
been previously very well scoured, the colour 
will be brilliant and fine; it is best after wash- 
ing to dry this colour in the shade. 

Chymic for Green. 

Eight ounces of indigo is sufficient for four 
pounds <of oil for green, because this mixture 
works green (and would even die a pea-green 
if used very hot) and therefore would not do 
for blue. The indigo is better suspended in 
this mixture than in the former, and is suppo- 
sed to go further in green. The goods being 



244 

well scoured are to be alumed; for every twen- 
ty pound weight, two pounds of alum is to be 
put into a copper with fair water, and the goods 
boiled gently an hour and a half; whilst this is 
performing, another copper is got ready, in 
which fustic chips are put to boil; if there are 
any to die pea-green it is best to die them first, 
not as practised in some die-houses, for this 
great reason, that when several parcels of goods 
have been through the same liquor, there re - 
mains a scurf which the acid extracts, and that 
is sure to ^tick to the next parcel that goes in ; 
and if pea-green was the last, the colour would 
be dulled thereby. The greens (pea-green ex- 
cepted) are to be turned about ten minutes in 
the alum liquor after they are died, in order to 
clear them of the stuff, and render the colour 
brighter. The alum liquor is not to be hotter 
than that the hand may be borne in. Observe, 
if the alum was put in (as is customary in some 
die-houses) with the fustic, it would retard its 
working so well; for alum, being an acid, 
would discharge if used with, as well as prepare 
for fustic. 

The reader will perhaps think me too tedious 
in this process, and say (because he is not used 
to this method) it is a superfluous work ; but 
be assured that the time lost in the process will 
be saved in the fustic, if attention is paid. 



*45 



CHAPTER VI. 



OF BRAZIL WOOD. 

UNDER the general name of Brazil wood 
is comprehended that of Fernambouc, 
Sc. Martha, Japan, and some others which I 
shall not here distinguish, since they are all 
used a'ter the same manner for dieing. Some 
give greater variety of colours than others, or 
finer ; but this often proceeds from the parts of 
the wood being more or less exposed to the air, 
o; that some parts of it may be rotted. The 
soundest or highest in colour are to^be chosen 
for dieing. 

All those woods give a tolerable good colour, 
either used alone, mixt with logwood, or with 
other colouring ingredients. It has been shewn, 
that, in the false or bastard violet, a little Bra- 
zil was added to the logwood; but in the vinous 
greys, or those which have a cast of the red, a 
great deal more is used. Sometimes only, a 
small quantity of galls is put with the Brazil, 
an- it is saddened with copperas; often also 
with logwood, archil, or s me other ingredient, 
it ss added according o the shade, from whence 
it is not possible io give any fixed rule for this 
kind of work> on account of the infinite varie- 



246 

ty of shades which are obtained from these dif- 
ferent mixtures. 

The natural colour of the Brazil, and for 
which it is most used, is the false scarlet, which 
appears fine and bright, but far inferior to the 
brightness of the cochineal or gum lacque. 

To extract the colour from this wood, the 
hardest water, such as will not dissolve soap, 
must be made use of, for river water has not 
nearly so good an effect ; it must be cut into 
chips and boiled for three hours; the water is 
then taken out and put into a large vessel, and 
fresh well- water put on the wood and boiled a- 
gain for three hours; this water is added to the 
first. 

This liquor, which is called juice of Brazil, 
must be old and fermented, and rope like an 
oily wine, before it is fit for use. To extract 
a bright red from it, the stuff must be filled 
with the salts of the common liquor of prepa- 
ration, but the alum must predominate, for the 
tartar alone, and also sour water, greatly spoils 
the beauty of this colour : in short, acids are 
hurtful to it, and dissolve its red colouring 
part. Four ounces of alum for each pound of 
stuff is to be added to the liquor, and only two 
ounces of tartar, or even less. The wool is to 
be boiled in it for three hours -, it is then taken 
out and gently wrung, and thus kept moisr for 
ei»ht days at least, that by the salts being re- 
tained it may be sufficiently prepared to receive 
the die. To die with this, one or two pails full 
of the old juice of Brazil is put into a conve- 



nient copper, and well scummed. Dip the 
stuff which has remained eight or cen days 
moistened in the preparing liquor, and it must 
be well worked in it without making the liquor 
boil too strongly, until it be smoothly and e- 
qually died. Care must be taken to wring a 
corner of this stuff now and then, as I have al- 
ready said, to judge of its colour, for, whilst 
wet, it appears at least three shades deeper than 
when dry. . By this method, which is somewhat 
tedious, very bright reds are made, perfectly 
imitating certain colours the English sell under 
the name of Campeachy scarlets, which, by the 
proof of dies, are not found to be better than 
this, only that they seem to have been lightly 
maddered. 

This red, of which I have given the process, 
and which is no where else described, withstands 
the weather three or four months in the winter, 
without losing any of its shade; on the contra- 
ry, it saddens, and seems to acquire a ground, 
but it does not stand the proof of taitar. 

Some diers of the great die use Brazil to 
heighten the red of madder, either to save this 
root, or make lis red more bright than usuah 
This is done by dipping in a Brazil liquor a 
stuff, begun with the madder, but this kind of 
fraudulent die is expressly forbid by the French 
regulations, as well as any mixture of the great 
die with the lesser, because it can only serve to 
cheat, and to pass for a fine madder red, a co- 
lour which in a few days loses all its brightness 
along with the shade, which has been drawn 



248 

from the Brazil, prepared in the common man- 
ner. 

The first colour extracted from this wood is 
not of a good die, probably because it is an in- 
digested sap, and whose colouring particles have 
not been sufficiently attenuated to be retained 
and sufficiency fixed in the pores of the wool 
died in it. When these first gross parts of the 
colour have been carried off, those that remain 
in small quantity are finer, and mixing them- 
selves to the yellow parts, which are furnished 
by the pure woody parts, the red resulting from 
it is more lasting. 

By the means of acids, of what kind soever, 
all the red colour of this wood is carried off or 
disappears ; then the stuff that is died by it 
takes a hind colour, more or less deep in pro- 
portion to the time it is kept in the liquor, and 
this colour is of a very good die. 

It is said that the diers of Amboise have a 
method of binding the Brazil colour in this 
manner; after their stuffs lightly maddcred have 
been pa: sed through a liquor of weld, and con- 
sequently boiled twice in alum and tartar, they 
put arsenic and pearl-ashes in the juice of Bra- 
zil, and it is asserted that this colour then re- 
sists the proofs; I tried this process, but it did 
not succeed. 

When a very bright red is required from the 
Brazil, I know by experience that it is possible 
to insure the colour drawn from it after such a 
manner that^ having exposed it thirty days to 
the rays of the summer's sun, it will not changes 



249 

but these kind of colours are coffee and chesnut 
purples. 

To make these, I keep the stuff moistened 
in its liquor in a cellar for fifteen days; this li- 
quor is prepared as for the reds, of which I have 
heretofore spoken; I fill a copper to two-thirds 
with well water, and the remaining third up 
with Brazil juice, to which I add about one oz. 
ot Aleppo galls in very fine powder to every 
pound of stuff, and then boil it one or two 
hours, as I want the shade to be in deepness: 
the stuff is aired from time to time, and when 
it has taken the colour desired, it is well cooled 
before it is washed. This stuff being brushed, 
the nap layed, and cold pressed, comes out v$- 
ry fine and very smooth. 



CHAPTER VII. 



OF FUSTIC. 

THE fustic gives an orange colour that is 
not lasting ; it is commonly used in the 
lesser die, like the roots or husks of walnuts, 
without boiling the stuff, so that it is easily ma- 
naged. It is often mixed with walnut husks 
and weld: to make tobacco and cinnamon co- 
lours, and other like shades. But this vrood is 
a very bad ingredient, for its colour being ex- 



2 5 

.posed to the air for a very short time loses all 
its brightness and the greatest part of its yellow 
shade. 

If a stuff died with fustic is dipped in the 
woad vat, a disagreeable olive ensues? which 
does not resist the air, but soon loses its colour. 

I have already said that fustic was made use 
of in Lansfuedoc for making of lobster colours 
for foreign markets, as it greatly saves cochi- 
neal. For this purpose they mix weld, fustic, 
and cochineal, with a little cream of tartar, in 
the same liquor, and the stuff boiled in this li- 
quor comes out of a lobster colour, and accord- 
ingly, to the quantity of these different ingre- 
dients, it becomes more or less red, tending to 
the orange. Although the method of mixing 
together ingredients of the good with those of 
the lesser die ought to be condemned, yet in this 
case, and for this colour only, which is in con- 
siderable demand in the Mediterranean, it ap- 
pears that the fustic may be tolerated; for ha- 
ving attempted to make the same colour, with 
only the ingredients of the good die, I did not 
get a more lasting colour. 

The change which the air produces in the 
lobster colour made with fustic is very sensible, 
but it is not so disagreeable as the changes in- 
cident to several other colours; for all the shade 
goes off and weakens at once, so that it is ra- 
ther diminution than a change of colour; where- 
as the lobster colour made with the yellow wood 
)ecomes of a cherry colour. 



251 



CHAPTER VII. 



OF ROUCOU. 



THE roucou or racourt is a kind of dry 
paste brought from America; this ingre- 
dient gives an orange colour pretty near the 
same as the fustic, and the die is not more last- 
ing. However it is not by the proof alum that 
the quality of the roucou is to be judged, for 
this does not in the least alter its colour; on the 
contrary, it bee ones finer and brighter, but the 
air carries it off, and effaces it in a short time; 
soap has the same effect, and it is by this it 
must he tried according to the instructions on 
these kind of proofs. The place of this ingre- 
dient is easily supplied in the good die by weld 
and madder mixed together, but roucou is made 
use of in the lesser die after the following man- 
ner. 

Pearl-ashes are dissolved in a copper with a 
sufficient quantity of water; it is well boiled 
for one hour, that the ashes may be totally dis- 
solved ; then as many pounds of roucou as there 
arc of ashes, .*re added; the liquor is well ra- 
ked and suffered to boil for a quarter of an hour; 
the wool or stuffs that are to be died are tnen 
dipped without any preparation, except dipping 



252 

them in luke-warm water, that the colour may 
spread itself equally. 

They are left in this liquor, working them 
continually until they are come to the desired 
shade, after which they are washed and dried. 

The roucou is often mixed with other ingre- 
dients of the lesser die, but I cannot give any 
instructions on these mixtures, as they depend 
on the shades you wish to make, and are in 
themselves attended with no difficulty. 

I have boiled the stuff in alum and tartar be* 
fore I died it with roucou, but though the co- 
lour was more lasting it was not sufficiently so 
to be deemed of the good die. On the whole, 
the roucou is a very bad ingredient for dieing 
of wool, and is not made much use of, for it is 
dear, and other ingredients, that are cheaper 
and hold better, are used in its stead. 

Wool died with roucou, and afterwards dipt 
in the indigo or woad vat, takes a reddish o- 
live, which in a very short time becomes almost 
blue in the air, the colour given by the roucou 
disappearing. 



CHAPTER IX. 



OF THE GRAINS OF AVIGNON. 

THE grains of Avignon are but little used 
in dieing, they give a pretty good yellow, 
but not lasting, no more than the green, pro- 



2 53 

duced by dipping in the same liquor, a stuff 
that has a ground of blue. To work it, the 
-stuff must be boiled in alum and tartar as for 
weld. Then a fresh liquor is made with these 
grains, and the stuff is dipt, and must lie in ic 
longer or shorter, according to the shade that 
is wanted. There is no difficulty in working 
of it, so I need only observe that it ought ne- 
ver to be used but when all other ingredients 
for dieing yellow are wanting; this must seldom 
happen, as they are neither scarce nor dear. 



CHAPTER X. 



OF TURMERIC. ^ 

THE turmeric is a root that is brought 
from the East Indies \ that* which comes 
from Patna is most valued. The Indian diers 
call it haleli ; it is also called concome in the re- 
gulations of M. Colbert. It is reduced to a 
very fine powder, and used pretty near the same 
way as the griin of Avignon, but in much less 
quantity, on account of its yielding a great 
da\ of die. Ic is somewhat better than the 
other yellow ingredients spoken of in the pre- 
ceding chapter, but, as it is dear, it is a suffi- 
cient reason for seldom or never using it in the 
lesser die. 

y 



*54 

It is sometimes used in the great die to gild 
the yellows made with weld, and to bnghten 
and orange the scarlets; but this practice is to 
be condemned ; for the air carries off all the co- 
lour of the turmeric in a short time, so that 
the gilded yellows return to their first state, and 
the scarlets brown considerably ; when this hap- 
pens to these sort of colours, it may be looked 
on as certain that they have been falsified with 
this ingredient, which is not lasting. 

I omit speaking of saffron, which may also 
be made use of to die yellow, but which I be- 
lieve is not used; first, on account of its being 
dear; and secondly, because its yellow is still 
worse than those of the two preceding ingre- 
dients. 

This is all that remains for me to say on the 
ingredients of the lesser die, they are only to be 
used for common and low-priced stuffs. It is 
not tnat I think it impossible to extract lasting 
colours from them, but then those colours will 
not s ricrly be the same which these ingredients 
yield naturally, or by the ordinary methods, as 
that gum and astriction which is wanting in 
tht-m must be added, and then they are no more 
of the same quality; consequently the rays of 
light will be differently reflected, and the colour 
will be different. 



*5S 



CHAPTER XI, 



OF SILVER GREY. 



FOR pearl colour or silver grey, to die forty 
pounds of woollen cloth or worsted, boil 
in a small copper four pounds of logwood chips 
for half an hour, add to it six ounces of pearl- 
ashes, and mix them well together; while this 
is performing, (having the worsted well scour- 
ed and parcelled in hanks on the die-sticks) 
heat a great copper with clean water, and put 
one peck of wheat bran in a bag into the cop- 
per; let it remain with often stirring about an 
hour; when the water begins to boil, put in 
three ounces of alum, which will throw the 
filth of the water to the top, when it must he 
taken off with the bowl ; wash the worsted in 
this liquor about forty minutes, when it must 
be taken up, and three or four pails of the log- 
wood liquor added to the alum water. The 
goods must then be worked very quick for forty 
minutes, when you may add more logwood li- 
quor if you see occasion. Great care must be 
taken after washing to dry this colour in the 
shade, or it will perhaps change.. 

Some die this colour in one liquor and boil 
the logwood in a bag. This process is less te- 
dious, but I prefer the former. It will be wel} 



256 

for the dier to take notice, that if too great- 
quantity of alum or ashes are used herein, the 
colour will be imperfect; for the alum, if used 
in a right proportion, gives that bloom to the 
good which is necessary for a pearl ; if too 
much, the contrary would happen. The ashes 
also, if used in too great quantity, would 
make the colour too red ; this may seem a con- 
tradiction, because the ashes are in alkali, bur 
practice will teach the truth. 

Another excellent Stiver Die. 

For twenty pounds weight of cloth or wor- 
sted, eight ounces of alum and twelve pounds 
of fenugreek must boil with the goods half an 
hour; then take it up, and add one pound of 
pearl-ashes and eight ounces of Brazil wood ; 
boil them gently with the goods half an hour j. 
rince it and you have a beautiful colour* 



INSTRUCTIONS 

ON T^E PROOF 

OF DIED WOOL AND WOOLLEN 
STUFFS. 



S it has been found that the methods pre- 
k scribed for the proof of dies, by the thirty- 
seventh article of the French regulations for 



A ! 



2 57 

the diers in the good die, of cloth, serges, and 
other woollen stuffs made in 1669, and by ar- 
ticle 220 of the general instructions for the 
dieing of wool of ail colours, and for the cul- 
ture of drugs and ingredients therein used made 
in 167 1, were insufficient for an exact judg- 
ment of the goodness or falsity of several co- 
lours, that they might sometimes lead into er- 
ror, and leave room for disputes, different ex- 
periments have been made by the French king's 
order on wool designed for the manufacture of 
tapestry to ascertain the degree of goodness of 
each colour, and the most convincing proofs of • 
each. 

For this purpose, fine wool was died in dif- 
ferent colour s both in the great and lesser die, 
and exposed to the air and sun during a proper 
time; the good colours kept themselves per- 
fectly, and the false ones were carried off more 
or less according to their bad quality; and as 
a coloui is only to be accounted good inasmuch 
as it resists the action of the air and sun, this 
proof served as a rule to decide the goodness of 
different colours. 

After this, several proofs were made on the 
same wool whose patterns had been exposed to 
the,^air and sun, and it was immediately found 
that the same trials could not be indifferently 
used in proving of all colours ; for it often 
happened that one colour, known to be good 
by exposition to the air, was considerably 
changed by the essay proof, and that a false 
colour stood the same proof. 

y 2 



2 5 8 

These experiments exploded lemon juice, 
vinegar, sour waters, and strong waters, as it 
was impossible to ascertain the degree of aci- 
dity of these liquors; and it appeared that the 
surest method is to use ingredients with com- 
mon water, whose effects are always equal. 

In following this plan, it has been judged 
necessary to divide into three classes all the co- 
lours in which wool is died, either in the 
great or lesser die, and to fix the ingredients 
that are to be made use of in the essay proofs of 
the colours, comprehended in each of these 
three classes. 

The colours comprehended in the first class 
are to undergo the proof of Roman alum, 
those of the second with white soap, and those 
of the third with red tartar. 

Bui it js nor sufficient to be assured of the 
goodness of a colour by using in the proof, in- 
gredients whose effect may always be equal ; 
it is also necessary, that not only the duration 
of this trial be exactly determined, but even 
the quantity of water fixed ; for the proportion 
of water considerably augments or diminishes 
the activity of the ingredients which are put 
into it. The method of proceeding in these 
different proofs shall beset forth in the follow- 
ing articles : 



*$9 



Article I. 

The proof of Roman Alum must be made as 
follows : 

One pound of water and half an ounce of 
alum f are to be put in an earthen vessel or pan. 
The vessel is to be placed on the fire, and 
when the water boils strongly, the wool is put 
in and left to boil for five minutes, after which 
it is to be taken out and washed in cold water; 
the weightj)f the pattern of wool must be a 
drachm or thereabouts. 

II. — When several patterns are to undergo 
the proof together, the quantity of water and 
alum is to be doubled, or even crippled, which 
will no ways change the strength or effect of 
the proof, if you observe the same proportion 
of water and alum, so that for each pound of 
water there may be one ounce of alum. 

III. — To render the effect of the proof more 
certain, care must be taken not to try together 
wool of different colours. 

IV, 

The Proof with White Soap is to be made after 
the following Manner : 

To one pound of water add two drachms of 
white soap, and place the vessel on the fire ; 
stir it with a stick that the soap may be tha- 



260 

roughly dissolved; when it is so, and the wa- 
ter boils strongly, the woollen pattern is put 
in, which is to boil for five minutes. 

V. — When several patterns are to undergo 
this proof, the same method is to be observed 
as in che second article, that is, to put to each 
pound of water two drachms of soap. 

VI. — The proof with red tartar must be ex- 
actly the same, with the same proportions as 
the proof with alum, taking care that the tar- 
tar is finely powdered and well dissolved in the 
water before the pattern is put in. 

VII. — The following colours are to be pro- 
ved with Roman alum, viz. crimson of ail 
shades, Venetian scarlet, fiame colour or com- 
mon scarlet, cherry colour and other shades of 
scarlet, violets and gris-de-lin of ail shades, 
purples, lobster, pomegranate, slate greys, la- 
vender greys, violet greys, vinous greys, and 
all other like shades. 

VIII. — If, contrary to the orders of the re- 
gulations on dieing, any ingredients of the false 
die have been made use of for fine wool died 
in crimson, the cheat will be easily found out 
by the proof of alum, for it changes the fine 
crimson a little on the violet, that is, makes it 
border a little on the gris de-lin> but it de- 
stroys the highest shades of the bastard crim- 
son j thus this proof is a sure method to dis- 
tinguish false crimson from fine. 



26l 

IX..— Scarlet of kermes or grain, commonly 
called Venetian scarier, is no wise prejudiced 
by this proof; it raises the fire- colour scarlet to 
a purple, and gives a violet colour to the 
lighter shades, so that they border on the gris- 
de-lin> but it carries off the greatest part of 
the false Brazil scarlet, and brings it to an 
onion-peel colour ; it has yet a more sensible 
effect on the lighter shades of this false co- 
lour. 

The same proof carries off almost entirely 
the scarlet of flock and its shade. 

X*-— Though the violet is not a simple co- 
lour, but formed of blue and red shades, it is 
nevertheless of so much consequence as to me- 
rit a particular inquiry. 

The same proof with Roman alum has 
scarcely any effect on the fine violet, whereas ic 
considerably alters the false ; but it must be 
observed, that it does not always equally carry 
off a great part of the shade of the false violet, 
because this colour has sometimes a ground of 
woad or indigo: now this ground being of the 
good die, is not carried off by the proof, but 
the redness goes off, and the brown shades 
become almost blue, and the pale ones of the 
colour of lees of wine. 

XI. — With regard to half fine violets, for- 
bidden by the present regulations, they must 
be ranked in the class of false violets, and do 
not stand the proo f ~. 



262 

XIL — The fine gris-de-lin may be known 
from (he false by the same method, the dif- 
ference is but trifling; the gris-de lin of the 
good die loses a little less than that of the 
false. 

XIII. — Fine purples entirely resist the proof 
with alum, whereas the false entirely lose the 
greatest part of their colour* 

XIV. — Lobster colours and pomegranate 
strike on the purple after the proof, if they 
have been made with cochineal, whereas they 
will pale greatly if fustic has been used ; the 
use of which is prohibited. 

XV. — Blues of the good die will lose no- 
thing in the proof, whether of woad or indigo; 
but those of the lesser die will lose the greatest 
part of their colour. 

XVI. — The slate greys, lavender greys, vi- 
olet greys, and vinous greys, lose almost all 
their colour if chey are of the false die ; where- 
as they perfectly maintain it, if of the good. 

XVIL — The proofs of the following colours 
are to be made with white soap : yellow, jon- 
quill or lemon colour, orange, and all the 
shades of yellow; all green shades from the 
yellow green or light green, to the cabbage or 
parrot green, the reds of madder, cinnamon, 
tobacco, and such like. 

XVIII, —This proof perfectly shows if the 
yellows and other shades derived from it are of 



263 

a good or false die ; for it carries off the greatest 
part of their colour if they have been made 
with grains of Avignon, roucou, turmeric, 
fustic, or saffron, whose use is prohibited 
for fine dies, but it no ways impairs the yel- 
lows made with savory, dier's wood, yellow 
wood, weld, or fenugreek, 

XIX. — The same proof will also show the 
goodness of greens, as those of the false die 
lose most of their colour, or become blue if they 
have a ground of woad or indigo; whereas 
those of the good die lose almost nothing of 
their shade, but remain green. 

XX. — The reds of pure madder lose no- 
thing by the soap proof, on the contrary be- 
come finer, but if Brazil wood has been used, 
they lose their colour in proportion to the quan- 
tity of it in the composition of the die. 

XXI.— Cinnamon, snuff colours, and others 
of this cast, are scarcely altered by this proof, 
if of the good die, but they lose considerably 
if roucou, fustic, or dissolved flock has been . 
made use of. 

XXII. — The proof of alum would be of no 
use, and might even lead us into errors with 
regard to several colours belonging to this se- 
cond class, for it no ways alters the fustic nor 
the roucou, which nevertheless do not with- 
stand the action of the air ; on the other hand, 
it carries off a great part of the sayorv and of 



264 

the dier's wood, which are very good yellows 
and greens. 

XX1I1. — All the brown or root colours 
should undergo the proof with red tartar. The 
diers call by this name all colours that are not 
derived from the five primary colours 5 they are 
made with rinds and roots of walnut, alder- 
bark, sumach or roudoul, santal and soot 5 each 
of these ingredients gives a great variety of 
shades, which are all comprehended under the 
general name of brown or root colour, 

XXIV. — The above-named ingredients in 
the preceding article are good, except the san- 
tal and soot, which are not quite so good, and 
make the wool stiff when too great a quantity 
is used, so that all this proof can show on these 
kind of colours, is, whether too much santal 
or soot has been put" into them; in this case 
they lose considerably by the proof with tar- 
tar ; but if made with other ingredients, with 
only a moderate quantity of santal or soot, they 
stand a great deal better. 

XXV — Black is the only colour which can- 
not be comprehended in any of the three clas- 
ses above-mentioned, and a much more active 
proof must be made use of. To know if the 
wool has had a deep ground of blue, conform- 
able to the regulations, the proot is to be made 
in the following manner : take a pint or pound 
of water, one ounce of tartar, and the same 



265 

quantity of Roman alum well powdered ; boil 
it, and then put in the pattern; let it boil 
strongly for a quarter of an hour, and after- 
wards wash it in cold water ; you will then 
easily know if it has had the proper blue 
ground, for if so, the wool will remain of a 
dark blue almost black ; if not, it will turn 
very grey. 

XXVI. — It is common to brown certain co- 
lours with galls and copperas ; this operation 
is called browning, which is to be permitted 
in the good die; but as this may cause a par- 
ticular effect in proving of these colours, it is 
to be observed that although the proof liquor 
appears loaded with die as the browning is car- 
ried off, the wool must be reputed of a good 
die if it still preserves its ground ; if on the 
contrary it loses it, it is then deemed to be of 
the false die. 

XXVI I. — Although the browning, which 
is made of galls and copperas, if of the good 
die, yet, as it hardens the wool, it is better to 
make use of the indigo or woad vat in prefe- 
rence. 

XXVIII. — Common greys made with galls 
and copperas are not to undergo any of these 
proofs, because these colours are of the good 
die, and are not otherways made; but it is to 
be observed, that they are first to be passed 

Z 



266 

through the liquor of galls, and afterwards 
through a second liquor, containing the cop- 
peras, which must be much cooler than the 
first* for by this method they are made finer 
and more lasting. 



267 



THE 

DIER'S ASSISTANT 
PART III. 

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES, 

CHAPTER I. 

OF FLOWERS. 

AMONG the infinite variety of colours 
which glow in the flowers of plants, there 
are very few which have any durability, or 
whose fugitive beauty can be arrested by art, 
so as to be applied to any valuable purposes. 
The only permanent ones are the yellow. The 
red, the blue, and all the intermediate shades 
of purples, crimsons, violets, &c. are extremely 
perishable. Many of these flowers lose their 
colour on being barely dried ; especially if they 
are dried slowly, as has been usually directed, 
in a shady and not warm place. The colours 
of all of them perish on keeping, even in the 



268 

closest vessels. The more hastily they are 
dried, and the more perfe&ly they are secured 
from rhe air, the longer they retain their beau- 
ty. The colouring matter, extradted and ap- 
plied on certain bodies, is still more perishable : 
often times it is changed or destroyed in the 
hand of the operator. 

Of Blue Flowers. 

The colour of many blue flowers is extra&ed 
by infusion in water, but there are some from 
which water gains only a reddish or a purplish 
hue. Of those that have been tried, there is not 
one which gives any blue tincture to spiritous 
liquors : some give no colour at all, and some a 
reddish one. The juice prest out from the 
fresh flowers is for the most part blue* 

The blue juices and infusions are changed red 
by all acids ; the marine acid seems to strike the 
must florid red. The flowers themselves, ma- 
cerated in acid liquors, impart also a deep red 
tindure. Alkalis, both fixed and volatile, and 
lime water, change them to a green. Those in- 
fusions or juices, which have nothing of the na- 
tive colour of the flower, suffer the same chan- 
ges from the addition of acid and alkaline li- 
quors ; even when the flowers have been kept 
till their colour is lost, infusions made from 
them acquire still a red colour from the one, 
and a green from the other, though in a less de- 
gree than when the flowers were fresh. 

The red colour produced by acids is scarcely 
more durable than the original blue ; applied 



269 

upon other bodies, and exposed to the air, it 
gradually degenerates into a faint purplish, and 
at length disappears, leaving hardly any stain 
behind. The green produced by alkalis changes 
to a yellow, which does not fade so soon, 
The green by lime water is more permanent and 
more beautiful. Green lakes, prepared from 
these flowers by lime water, have been used as 
pigments by the painter. 

The flowers of cyanus have been greatly re- 
commended, as affording elegant and durable 
blue pigments ; but I have never been able to 
extract from them any blue colour at all. They 
retain their colour indeed, when hastily dried, 
longer than some other blue flowers, but they 
communicate- nothing of it to any kind of 
menbtruum. Infusions of them in watery, 
spiritous, and oily liquors, are all more or less 
of a reddish cast, without any tendency to blue. 
Alum, which is said to heighten and preserve 
their blue colour, changes it like that of other 
blue flowers, to a purplish red ; acids to a deep- 
red j alkalis and lime water to a green. 

Solution of tin, added to the watery infusion, 
turns it to a fine crimson ; on standing, a beau- 
tiful red fecula subsides, our it loses all its co- 
lour by the time it is dry. Tl^ watery infusion, 
inspissated to the consistence of an extradt 
made with rectified spirit, is of a purplish co- 
lour. The colour of both extracts, spread 
thin and exposed to the air, quickly fades. 

The flowers employed in these experiments 
were those of the common blue bottle of the 
Z2 



270 

corn-field ; cyanis segetum C\ B. ceniaurea ca- 
lycibus serratis\ foliolis linearibus integerri- 
mis ; insimis dentatis linn. spec. 

Red Flowers. 

Red flowers readily communicate their own 
red colour to water menstrua -, among those 
that have been tried there is not one exception. 
Those of a full red colour, give to rectified 
spirit also a deep red tindture, brighter, though 
somewhat paler than the watery infusion ; but 
the lighter red flowers, and those that have a 
tendency to purplish, impart very little co- 
lour to spirit, and seem to partake more of the 
nature of the blue flowers than of the pure red. 

Infusions of red flowers are supposed to be 
heightened by acids, and turned green by alka- 
lis, like those of the blue; but this is far from 
being universal. Among those I have exami- 
ned, the rose colours and purplish reds were all 
changed nearly in the same manner as the blues, 
but the full deep reds were not. The deep in- 
fusion of red popies is turned by alkalis, not 
to a green but to a dusky purple. 

Yellow Flowers* 
The colours of yellow flowers, whether pale 
or deep, are in general durable. Many of them 
are as much so perhaps as any of the native co- 
lours of vegetables. The colour is extra&ed 
both by water and by spirit; the watery infu- 
sions are the deepest. Neither acids nor alka- 
lis alter the species of colour, though both of 



271 

them vary its shades ; acids rendering it paler., 
and alkalis deeper : alum likewise considerably 
heightens it though not so much as alkalis. 

Wool or silk impregnated with a solution of 
alum and tartar, receives, on being boiled with 
the watery infusion, or decoction, a durable yel- 
low die, more or less deep according as the li- 
quor is more or less saturated with the colouring 
matter. 

An infusion of the flowers made in alkaline 
ley, precipitated by alum, gives a durable yel- 
low lake. Some of these flowers, particularly 
those of the chrysanthemum, or corn-marigold, 
appear (from the Ars Tinffora Fundamentalist 
published by Stahl) to be made use of by the 
German Diers. 

In some of the deep reddish yellow, or orange- 
coloured flowers, the yellow matter seems to be 
of the same kind with that of the pure yellow 
flowers, but the red to be of a different kind from 
the pure red ones : watery menstrua take up 
only the yellow and leave rhe red, which may 
afterwards be extradled by rectified spirit of 
wine, or by water actuated with fixed alkaline 
salt. Such particularly are thesafron-coloured 
flowers of carthamus. These, after the yellow 
matter has been extracted by water, are said to 
give a red tincture to ley; from which, on 
standing at rest for some time, a deep bright red 
fecula subsides, called, from one of the names 
of the plant which produces it, saf-flower, and 
from the countries whence it is commonly 
brought to us, Spanish red, and China lake $ 



2 J 2 

this pigment impregnates spirits of wine with a 
beautiful red tincture, but communicates no 
colour to water. 

I have endeavoured to separate by the same 
treatment, the red matter of some of the other 
reddish yellow Bowers, as those of the garden 
marigold, but without succ ss. Plain water 
extracted a yellow colour, and alkaline ley ex- 
tracted afterwards only a paler yellow ; though 
the digestion wre continued till the flowers 
had lost their colour, the tinctures were no 
other than yellow, and not so deep as those ob- 
tained from the pure yellow flowers. 

The little yellow flosculi, which in some 
kinds of flowers are collected into a compact 
round disc, as in the daisy and corn-marigold, 
agree so far as they have been examined with 
the expanded yellow petala. Their colour is 
affected in the same manner by acids, by alka- 
lis, and by alum, and equally extracted by wa- 
ter and by spirit. 

But the yellow farina or fine dust lodged on 
the tips of the stamina of flowers, appears to be 
of a different kind. It gives a fine bright yel- 
low to spirit, and a duller yellow to water ; the 
undissolved part proving, in both cases,, of a 
pale yellowish white. Both the watery and spi- 
ritous tinctures were brightened by alkaline li- 
quors, turned red by acids, and again a deep 
yellow on adding more of the alkali. I know 
no other vegetable yellow that is changed red 
by acids. 



73 



White Flowers. 

White flowers are by no means destitute of 
colouring matter. Alkaline lixivia extract d om 
some of them a green tincture, and change their 
colourless expressed juices to the same colour. 
But I have not observed that they are turned 
red by acids. The flowers of the common wild 
convolvulus or bind weed, which in all their 
parts are white, give a deep yellow or orange 
tincture to plain water, which like the tincture 
of flowers which are naturally of that colour, 
is rendered paler by acids, heightened a little 
by alum, and more considerably by alkaline 
salts. The vapours of the volatile vitriolic 
acid, or of burning sulphur, which whiten or 
destroy the colour of the coloured flowers, 
makes no change in the white. 



CHAPTER II. 



OF FRUITS. 

THE red juices of fruits, as red currants, 
mulberries, elder berries, and morello and 
black cherries, &c. gently inspissated to dry- 
ness, dissolve again almost totally in water, and 
appear nearly of the same red colour as at first. 
Rectified spirit extracts the tinging particles, 
leaving a considerable portion of mucilaginous 



274 

matter undissolved: and hence the spirituous 
tincture proves of a brighter colour than the 
watery. The red solutions and the juices 
themselves are sometimes made dull, and some- 
ti oes more florid, by acids, and generally turn- 
ed purplish by alkalis. 

The colours of these juices are for the most 
pare perishable. They resist indeed the power 
of fermentation, and continue almost unchan- 
ged after the liquor has been converted into 
wine. But when the juice is spread thinly on 
other bodies, exsiccated, and exposed to the air 
the colour quickly alters and decays : the 
bright lively reds change the soonest. The 
dark, dull red strain from the juice of the 
black-cherry, is of considerable durability. 
The fruit of the Amercan opuntia, or prickly 
pear, the plant upon which the cochineal insect 
is produced, is perhaps an exception : this 
bright red fruit, according to Labat> gives a 
beautiful red die. Some experiments, however, 
made upon the juice of that fruit, as brought in- 
to England, did not seem to promise any great 
advantage from it; but the particulars I cannot 
now recollect. 

The ripe berries of buckthorn stain paper of 
a green colour. From these is prepared the 
substancecalled sap-green, apigment sufficiently 
durable, readily soluble in water, but not mis- 
cible with oil. The berries dried whilst green, 
and macerated in alum-water, are said to yield 
a yellow pigment ; and when they have grown 
over-ripe, so as to fall off spontaneously, a pur- 
ple one. Woolen eloth 3 prepared with alum and 



2 75 

tartar, receives, on being boiled with the berries* 
a perishable yellow die. The French berries, 
or grained Avignon of the French Diers, one of 
the most false, that is, the most perishable of 
the yellow dies, is the berry of a species of bur k~ 
thorn smaller than that which grows wild among 
us. 

It is said that the berry of the Heliotropium 
tricoccum> which grows wild about Mon'pelier> 
stains paper of a green colour, and that this 
green turns presently to a blue : that the com- 
mon blue paper receives its colour from this 
juice: and that the red rags, called turnsole 
employed for colouring wines and other liquors, 
are tinctured by the same juice, turned red by 
acids. According to M NisscIIe of the French 
academy of sciences (as quoted by Savary in 
his Dictionaire de Commerce) the colouring 
juice is obtained, not from the berries, bur from 
the tops of the plant, gathered in August, 
ground in mills, and then committed to the 
press. The juice is exposed to the sun about 
an hour, the rags dipped in it, dried in the sun, 
moistened by the vapour which arises during the 
slacking of quick-lime with urine, the; dried 
ag tin in the sun, and dipped again in the juice. 
The Dutch and others are said to prepare turn- 
sol rags, and turnsol in the mass, from different 
ingredients, among which archil is a pnru ipal 
one. 

In some plants, peony for instance, the seeds 
at a certain point of matunty are covered With a 
fineshining red membrane ; the pellicles of the 



276 

seeds of a certain American tree afford the red 
masses brought into Europe under the names of 
annotto, orlean, and roucou. The red seeds, 
cleared from the pods, are steeped in water for 
seven or eight days or longer, till the liquor be- 
gins to ferment ; then strongly stirred, and 
stamped with wooden paddles and beaters, to 
promote the separation of the red skins ; this 
process is repeated several times till the seeds are 
left white. The liquor passed through close 
cane sieves is pretty thick, of a deep red colour 
and a very ill smell. In boiling it throws up 
its colouring matter to the surface in form 
of scum, which is afterwards boiled down by 
itself to a due consistence, and made up, while 
soft into balls. 

The annotto commonly met with among us, 
is moderately hard and dry, of a brown colour 
on the outside, and a dull red within. It is 
with difficulty acted on by water, and tinges 
the liquor only of a pale brownish yellow co- 
lour. In rectified spirit of wine it readily dis- 
solves, and communicates a high orange or yel- 
lowish red. Hence it is used as an ingredient in 
varnishes, for giving more or less of an orange 
cast to the simple yellows. Alkaline salts ren- 
der it perfectly soluble in boiling water^ without 
altering its colour. Wool or silk boded in the 
solution, acquire a deep but not a very durable 
orange die. Its colour is not changed by alum 
or by acids any more than by alkalis; but 
when imbibed in cloth, it Lb discharged by soap 
and destroyed by exposure to the air. 



277 

Mr. Pott, in the Berlin memoirs for the year 
1752, mentions a very extraordinary property 
of this concrete. " With the vitriolic acid, it 
cc produces a blue colour, of extreme beamy., 
cc but with this capital defect, that all salts and 
C€ liquors, even common water, destroy it." 

The specimen ofannotto which I examined, 
was not sensibly acted on by spirit of vitriol. 
It received no change in its own colour, and 
communicated none to the liquor. Nor did 
any visible change ensue upon dropping the 
acid into tinctures of annotto made in water or 
in spirit. i* 

Labat informs us, that the Indians prepare an 
annotto greatly superior to that which is brought 
to us, of a bright shining red colour, almost 
equal to carmine ; that for this purpose, in- 
stead of steeping and fermenting the seeds in 
water, they rub them with the hands previously 
dipt in oil, till the pellicles come off, and are 
reduced into a clear paste, which is scraped off 
from the hands with a knife, and laid on a clean 
leaf in the shade to dry. De Lacet, in his no es 
on M^rcgrave's Natural Hstory of Brazil, men- 
tions also two kinds of annotto, one of a perma- 
nent crimson colour, (coccineus) used as a tu- 
cus ; and another which gives a colour incli- 
ning more to that of saffron. This last, which 
is our annotto, he supposes to be a mixture of 
the first sort with certain resiinOus matters, and 
with the juice of the root of the tree. ' 

Xi nenes relates, thai; annotto with urine 
stains linen of such a permanent colour that it 
Aa 



278 

can never be washed out. Perhaps the first 
sort is meant. Our annotto boiled in urine, im- 
parted to linen a deep yellowish red : the 
stained linen, hung out in the air in summer, in 
seven or eight days lost all its colour and be- 
came white again. 



CHAPTER III. 

OF LEAVES. 

THE green colour of the leaves of plants is 
extracted by rectified spirit of wine and 
by oils. The spirituous tinctures are generally 
of a fine deep green, even when the leaves 
themselves are dull coloured, or yellowish, or 
hoary. The colour however seldom abides 
long even in the liquor ; much less when the 
tinging matter is separated in a solid form, and 
exposed with a large surface to the air. The 
editor of the Wirtemberg Pharmacopeia ob- 
serves, that the leaves of acanthus, brankursine 
or bears- breech, give a more durable green 
tincture to spirit than those of any other herb. 
Alkalis heighten the colour both of the tinc- 
tures and green juices. Acids weaken, destroy, 
or change it to a brownish. Lime water im- 
proves both the colour and the durability. By 
means of lime, not inelegant green lakes are 
procurable from the leaves of acanthus, lilly of 
the valley, and several other plants. 



279 

There are very few herbs which communis 
cate any share of their green colour to water ; 
perhaps none that give a green of any conside- 
rable deepness. It is said, however, that the 
leaves of some plants give a green die to wool- 
len, without the addition of any other colouring 
matter ; particularly those of the wild chervil 
or cow-weed ( Myrrhis sylvestris seminibus lxvi~ 
iuSy C. B.) the common ragwort, and devil's 
bit. The process with this last, as described 
by Linnaus- (in the Svensca Acad. Handle, drs, 
1742) is pretty remarkable. The peasants, he 
informs us in some of the Swedish provinces, 
stratify the fresh leaves with woollen yarn, and 
boil them about as long as it is customary to 
boil fish. 

The whole is suffered to stand in the vessel 
for a night. The wool, taken out in the mor- 
ning, does not appear to have received any co- 
lour. The pot is again made hot. and the yarn 
hung over it upon a stick, covered with an in- 
verted dish to confine the steam, for this steam 
is supposed to be essential to the colour. The 
yarn is afterwards wrung, the leaves taken out 
of the boiling liquor, a little fresh water added 
to the decoction, and the wool frequently dipt 
therein, till it appears sufficiently coloured. 

The leaves of many kinds of herbs and trees 
give a yellow die to wool or woollen cloth 
that has been previously boiled with a solution 
of alum and tartar : weld in particular affords a 
fine yellow, and is commonly made use of for 
this purpose by the diers, and cultivated in large 



2bo 

quantities in some parrs of England. There isno 
colour for which we Have such plenty of materi- 
als as for yellow, Mr Hellot observes in his /irt" 
de Teihdi e> that all leaves, barks, and roots which 
on being chewed discovery slight astringency, 
as the leaves of the almond, peach, and pear- 
rreeo, ash-bark, (espec;a]]y that taken off after 
the first vising of the sap in spring) the roots of 
wild patience, &c. yield durable yellows, more 
or less beautiful according to the length of time 
that the boding is continued, and the propor- 
tions of alum and tartar in the preparatory li~ 
q;\)r : that a large quantity of alum makes these 
vriiovss approach to the elegant yellow of weld : 
- ir the tartar is made to prevail, it inclines 
them ro an orange : that if the roots, barks, or 
leaves be too long boiled, the yellow proves 
tarnished, and acquires shades of brown : that 
for dying with weld, the best proportions of the 
salts are, four parts of alum and one of tartar to 
sixteen of the wool : and that the wool prepared 
with these is to be boiled again with five or six 
times its quantity of weld : that for light shades 
it is customary to diminish the alum and omit 
the tartar; and that in this case the colour is 
more slowly imbibed, and proves less durable. 
Of all the colours of the dier, we have the 
fewest materials for blue; the mineral and ani- 
mal kingdoms afford none, excepting perhaps 
Prussian blue, which Mr. Macquer has lately 
attempted to introduce in this art. The vege- 
table yields but two, which are both produced 
from the leaves of plants, indigo and woad. 



28l 



CHAPTER IV. 

MR. LEWIS'S HISTORY OF MADDER, AND MAN- 
NER OF TREATING IT. 

MADDER (Rubia tinctorum saliva, C.B.) 
is one of the asperifolious stellated plants, 
or of those which have rough narrow leaves, set 
in form of a star at the joints of the stalks. The 
root, which is the only part made use of, is long 
and slender, of a red colour both on the outside 
and within, excepting a whitish pith which runs 
along the middle. 

This plant was formerly cultivated among 
us in great quantity for the use of the diers, who 
for some time past have been supplied from 
Holland and Zealand. Its culture is now again 
set on foot in this kingdom, under the laudable 
encouragement of a public society. Madder is 
not like alkanet, and other exotic plants, the 
colour of which degenerates in our climates, 
for English madder is equal to the best that is 
brought from abroad. 

Madder root gives out its colour both to wa- 
ter and to rectified spirit; the watery tincture is 
of a dark du41 reef, the spirituous of a deep 
bright one. Taken internally (for it has some- 
times been used medicinally as an aperient and 
diuretic) it tinges the urine red. In the Philo- 
sophical Transactions, and in the Memoirs of 
the French Academy, there are accounts of its 
A a 2 



2»2 

producing a like effect upon the bones of ani- 
mals, to whom it had been given with their food. 
All the bones, particularly the more solid ones, 
were changed both externally and internally to a 
deep red, but neither the cartilaginous nor 
fleshy parts suffered any alteration. Some of 
those bones, macerated in water for many weeks 
together, and afterwards steeped and boiled in 
spirit of wine, lost nothing of their colour, nor 
communicated any tinge to the liquors. 

The dealers in this commodity make three 
sorts of it; madder in the branch, madder in 
the bunch or in the bundle, and madder un- 
bundled. 

Madder in the branch is the entire root dried. 
This ground in mills to a gross powder is the 
unbundled madder. The bundled or bunch 
madder is a powder of the finer roots, freed 
from the outer bark and from the pith. It is 
said that by keeping for two or three years in 
close casks the colour is improved ; in open 
vessels it decays. 

Madder imparts to woollen cloth, prepared 
with alum and tartar, a very durable, though 
not a very beautiful red dye. As it is the 
cheapest of all the red drugs that give a durable 
colour, it is the principle one commonly made 
use of for ordinary stuffs. Sometimes its die is 
heightened by the addition of Brazil wood ; and 
sometimes it is employed in conjunction with 
the dearer reds, as cochineal, for d; mi-scarlets 
and demi-crimsons. Mr. Hellot informs us, 
ih'di those who die the best madder reds are 



particularly careful to keep the liquor of a heat 
considerably below boiling, increasing the fire 
only towards the end, so as to make it boil for 
a minute or two just before the cloth is taken 
out to confirm the die; a boiling heat enables 
water to extract not only the red, but a tawny 
or brownish matter, which debases the red to a 
dull brick colour. 

The proportion of madder is about half the 
weight of the cloth. The best proportion of 
salts for preparing the cloth to receive the die, 
seems to be five parts of alum and one of red 
tartar for sixteen of the stuff ; which is to be 
boiled with these for two hours or longer, then 
kept moist for some days, and afterwards di- 
gested with the madder. 

A variation in the proportion of the salts, va- 
ries the colour communicated by the madder, 
and not only the shade, but the species of 
colour. 

If the alum be diminished, and the tartar in- 
creased, the die proves a red cinnamon ; if the 
alum be entirely omitted, the red is destroyed, 
and a very durable tawny cinnamon is pro- 
duced. 

On boiling the died cloth in weak alkaline 
ley, great part of the colour is destroyed, and 
the remainder appears of a dirty or a kind of 
sallow hue. Solution of soap, on the other 
hand, discharges a part, and leaves the remain- 
ing red more lively than before. 

Volatile alkalis heighten the red colour of 
madder, but at the same time render it fugitive 



284 

like themselves. Madder prepared with lime 
and urine, after the manner practised for archil, 
lost its red colour on attempting to die with if*. 
and communicated to the cloth only permanent 
nut-colours. 

If a pure red, as that of cochineal, he applied 
on cloth which has been previously died blue, 
and afterwards prepared for receiving this red 
by boiling with alum and tartar, a purple or 
violet will be produced, according as the blue 
or the red prevail. The madder red has not 
this effect, for as its colour is not a pure red, 
but is tarnished by the tawny matter which its 
woody fibres have in common with other roots, 
it gives upon blue only a chesnut die, more or 
less deep according to the deepness of the blue 
applied first. 

There are, however, means of obtaining from 
madder a fine purple, without the addition of 
any other colouring drug. A piece of white 
woollen cloth, weighing half an ounce, was 
boiled for half an hour with ten grains 
of roman alum and six grains of crys- 
tals of tartar, and then taken out, squeezed, 
and suffered to cool. Twenty-four grains of 
bunch madder were added to the same liquor; 
and after the madder had given out its colour, 
twenty drops of a solution of bismuth (made in 
spirit of nitre, diluted with equal its weight of 
water) were dropped in. The cloth was now 
dipped again, and in half an hour taken out, 
squeezed and washed. It appeared of a crim- 
son colour, nearly as beautiful as if it had been 
died with cochineal. To try the effect of load- 



ms 



ing it further with the colouring matter, it was 
returned into the liquor and boiled for a quar- 
ter of an hour, longer: it had now acquired a 
purple colour sufficiently vivid. 

On varying this experiment by keeping the 
elpih moist for some days after the preparation 
with alum and tartar, then dipping it in a plain 
decoction of madder made as usual without 
salts, and adding, when it had gained a bright 
cinnamon colour, the same solution of bismuth, 
the die instead of purple proved only a chesnut^ 



CHAPTER V. 

OF FUSTIC. 

FUSTIC is the wood or species of mulberry* 
tree, growing in Jamaica and Brazil, called 
by Sir Hans Sloane, Morns Fructu ViridiJLig- 
no Sulphureo Tinciorio. It is of a deep sulphur 
yellow colour, which it readily gives out both 
to water and spirit. The watery decoction dies 
prepared woollen of a very durable orange yel- 
low : the colour is imbibed by the cloth in a 
moderate warmth without boiling. 

The fustet or fustel of the French is a yellow 
wood or root very different from our fustic. It 
gives a fine orange die to woollen, but the co- 
lour is extremely perishable in the air. The 
plant grows wild in Italy and Provence, and is 



286 

cultivated with us in gardens on account of the 
beaury ofirs flowers, lc is called Venice su- 
mach, cotinus cotiaria, coccigria -, cotinus mat- 
thioli, C. B. 



CHAPTER VI. 

NEPHRITIC WOOD. 

THIS wood is brought from the eastern 
countries in large pieces, covered with a 
dark blackish bark. The wood is hard, heavy, 
compcict, of a fine grain, of a whitish or pale 
yellow colour on the outbide, and a dusky red- 
disn brown in the heart. Of the tree we have 
no very certain account. 

This wood, particularly the outer pale part, 
gives out both to water and to rectified spirit a 
deep tincture appearing, when placed between 
the eye and the light, of a golden colour; in 
other situations, blue- Hence it is named by 
Caspar Bauhino, lignum peregrinum, aquam c ec- 
ru' earn redden. 

By this mark it is easily distinguished from 
pieces of a different kind of wood, which are 
sometimes mixt with it, and which give only a 
yellow tincture to water. 

It is remarkable, that the blue colour of the 
infusion of nephritic wood is destroyed by acids, 
the liquor after the admixture of these appear- 
ing in all situations yellow \ and that the ad- 



287 

dition of alkalis, either of the fixt or volatile 
kind, in quantity sufficient to neutralize the 
acid, restores the blueness. No other woody 
matter is known that gives any degree of blue 
tincture, and no other vegetable blue is known 
that is thus destructible by acids. 

This wood is at present rarely met with in 
the shops i nor is it applied to any use, except 
that some have employed it medicinally, and 
expected from it diuretic virtues, whence its 
name nephritic wood. 



CHAPTER VII. 

mr. Ferguson's history of logwood as a 
colouring drug. 

LOGWOOD or Campeachy wood {Lignum 
Brazilo-simile, cceruleo tingens y jf. B is 
the wood of a low prickly tree, which grows 
plentifully 'about Campeachy or the Bay of 
Honduras, and has of late been introduced into 
some of the warmer of the British plantations, 
particularly Jamaica. It is a native of the low 
marshy places. The wood comes over in pret- 
ty large logs, cleared from the bark. It is very 
hard, compact, heavy, and of a red colour. 

Logwood gives out us colour both to watery 
and spirituous menstrua, but not readily to 
either. It requires to be rasped and ground into 
fine powder, and boiled in several fresh parcels 



288 

of the liquors. Rectified spirit extracts the co- 
lour more easily, and from a larger proportion 
of the wood than water does. 

The tinctures both in water and in spirit are 
of a fine red, with an admixture, particularly in 
the watery one, of a violet or purple. Volatile 
alkaline salts or spirits incline the colour more 
to purple. The vegetable and nitrous acids 
render it pale, the vitriolic and marine acids 
deepen it. 

The watery decoction, wrote with on paper, 
loses its redness in a few days and becomes 
wholly violet. This colour it communicates 
also to woollen cloth previously prepared by 
boiling with a solution of alum and tartar. The 
die is beautiful, but very perishable. It is of- 
ten used by the diers as an ingredient in com- 
pound colours, for procuring certain shades 
which are not easily hit by other materials. 

With chalybeate solutions it sirikes a black. 
Hence it is employed in conjunction with those 
liquors for staining wood black for picture 
frames, &c. and with the addition of galls for 
dying cloth and hats black. The black dies in 
which this wood is an ingredient, have a parti- 
cular lustre and softness, far beyond those made 
with vitriol and galls alone. The beauty how- 
ever which it here imparts is not permanent, 
any more than its own natural violet die. 

On the same principle it improves also the 
lustre and blackness of writing ink. Ink made 
with vitriol and galls does not attain to its lull 
blackness, till after it has lain -some time upon 



289 

the paper. A due addition of Logwood ren- 
ders it of a deep black as it flows from the pen, 
especially when vinegar or white wine is used 
for the menstruum. 

Decoctions and extracts made from logwood 
have an agreeable sweetish taste, followed by a 
slight asrringency. They have lately been in- 
troduced into medicine, and given with success 
in cases where mild restringents are required. 
They often tinge the stools, and sometimes the 
urine of a red colour. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PROCESS OF PRUSSIAN BLUE. 

PRUSSIAN blue is prepared by precipita- 
ting a solution of green vitriol and alum 
with a lixivium drawn from fixed alkaline salt 
that has been calcined with animal coals. Com- 
monly about three parts of alkali and two of 
dried ox-blood are calcined so long as anjr 
flame appears, then thrown into boiling water, 
and the strained decoction poured into a hot 
mixture of solutions of four parts of alum and one 
or less of vitriol. The liquor becomes instant- 
ly thick or curdly, and looks at first of a grey- 
ish colour, which changes to a brown and in a 
little time to a bluish green. The matter, be- 
ing well stirred together, and mixed with a 
quantity of hard spring water, a green preci- 

B b 



290 

pitate subsides : spirit of salt poured upon the 
edulcorated powder dissolves a part, and leaves 
the rest blue. 

Mr. Geoffrey is the first who has given any 
plausible theory of this process, or any rational 
means for improving it. He observes that the 
Prussian blue is no other than the iron of the 
vitriol, revived by the inflammable matter of 
the alkaline lixivium, and perhaps brightened 
by an admixture of the white earth of alum; 
that the green colour proceeds from a part of 
the yellow ferrugineous calx or ochre unrevived, 
mixing with the blue, and that the spirit of salt 
dissolves this ochre more readily than the blue 
part, though it will dissolve that also by long 
standing, or if used in too large quantity. 
From these principles he was led to increase the 
quantity of inflammable matter, that there 
might be enough to receive the whole of the 
ferrugineous ochre, and produce a blue colour 
at once without the use of the acid spirit. In 
this he perfectly succeeded, and found at the 
same time that the colour might be rendered of 
any degree of deepness or lightness at pleasure. 

If the akali is calcined with twice its weight 
of dried blood, and the lixivium obtained from 
it, poured into a solution of one part of vitriol, 
to six of alum, the liquor acquires a very pale 
blue colour, and deposits as pale a precipitate. 
On adding more and more of a fresh solution of 
vitriol, the colour becomes deeper and deeper, 
almost to blackness. He imagines with great 
probability, that the blue pigments thus pre- 



2gi 

pared will prove more durable in the air, min- 
gle more perfectly with other colours, and be 
less apt to injure the lustre of such as are mixed 
with or applied to its neighbourhood, than that 
made in the common manner ; the tarnish and 
other inconveniences to which the common 
Prussian blue is subject, seeming to proceed 
from the acid and spirit, which cannot be total- 
ly separated by any ablution. 

He takes notice also of an amusing phenome- 
non which happens upon mixture. When the li- 
quors are well stirred together, and the circular 
motion as soon as possible stopt; some drops 
of solution of vitriol (depurated by long set- 
ling) let fall on different parts of the surface, 
divide, spread, and form curious representations 
of flowers, trees, shrubs, flying insects, &c, in 
great regularity and s perfection. These con- 
tinue ttn or twelve minutes, and on stirring the 
liquor again, and dropping in some more of the 
solution of vitriol, are succeeded by a new 
picture. 

Mr. Macquer has ingeniously applied the 
preparation of this pigment to the dicing of 
wool and silk, and found means of fixing the 
blue fecula in their pores. By dipping clotk 
first in a diluted solution of vitriol and alum, 
then in the ley diluted, and afterwards in water 
acidulated with spirit of vitriol, it acquires a 
light blue colour, which becomes deeper and 
deeper on repeating the dippings alternately in 
the same order as before; adding to the liquors 
each time a little more of the respective saline 



292 

matters. The blue die, he says, in beauty and 
lustre exceeds that of indigo and woad, as far as 
scarlet does the madder red, and penetrates the 
whole substance of fulled cloth without weak- 
ening it. The colour is durable in the air, and 
stands boiling with aium water, but is dischar- 
ged by soap, and, without certain precautions, 
liable to be specky or unequal. See Memoirs 
of the French Academy for the year 1749. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ALKANET-ROOT. 

THE roots of alkanet in many respects very 
much resemble saunders wood, but differ 
from it remarkably in others. They impart an 
elegant deep red to pure spirit of wine, to oils, 
to wax, and to unctuous substances : I do not 
know of any red drug that tinges oil of so fine 
a colour. To water they give only a dull 
brownish red. The spirituousliquor, on being 
inspissated to the consistence of an extract, in- 
stead of preserving its fine red like that of 
saunders, changes to an unsightly brown. 

Volatile spirits have been said to gain from 
this root a beautiful violet or amethyst colour $ 
but I have not found that they extract any co- 
lour but a dull reddish brown. 

The alkanet plant is a species of bugloss, 
named by Tournefort, buglossum radice rubra^ 



2 93 

she anchusa, vulgatior fiorihus c<eruleis. It is 
a native of the warmer parts of Europe, and 
cultivated in some of our gardens. The great- 
est quantities are raised in Germany and 
France, particularly about Montpelier, from 
whence we are chiefly supplied with the roots. 

The alkanet root produced in England is 
much inferior in colour to that brought from 
abroad; the former being only lightly reddish, 
the latter of a deep purplish red. This has in- 
duced some to suspect that the foreign roots owe 
part of their colour to art, but a chymical ex- 
amination teaches otherwise. The colouring 
matter is found upon experiment, to be of the 
same kind in both, and to differ in several of 
its properties from that of all the other known 
red drugs ; so that no artifice appears to be prac- 
ticable without discovery, unless it was concen- 
trating the colour of two roots into one, or su- 
persaturating one root with the colour extracted 
from another. 

The principal use of alkanet-root is for co- 
louring oils, unguents, lip-salves, plaisters, &c. 
Wax tinged with it, applied on wafrr\ marble,, 
stains it of a flesh colour, which sinks deep into 
the stone. The spirituous tincture gives a deep 
red s:ain. „ ' 

The colour of this root is confined to the cor- 
tical parr, the pith being whitish ] [fence as the 
small roots have more bark in proportion to 
their bulk than the larger ones, those also con- 
tain most colour. 

Bb2 



294 



CHAPTER X. 



OF ALUM. 



NATURE produces no perfect alum, but 
affords the materials for it in sundry ores, 
pyritce, stones, slate, earth, waters, and bitu- 
mens, as pit coal. Some late experiments by 
Mr. Geoffrey and Mr. Pot have shewn that the 
earth of alum is contained in clay, and that a 
true alum may be prepared by digesting clay in 
the vitriolic acid. Both of these geniiemen 
imagine that only a particular part of the clay 
is here extracted. 

Whether it existed originally in the clay, 
possessed of the same properties which it is 
found to have when extracted, or whether it has 
suffered a change in the operation, they have 
not determined. From the experiments I have 
made, the latter seems to be the case. Powder- 
ed tobacco pipe-clay, being boiled in a consi- 
derable quantity of oil of vitriol, and the fire 
continued to dryness, the matter, examined 
when grown cold, discovers scarcely any taste, 
or only a slight acidulous one. On exposure to 
the air for a few days, the greatest part of it is 
found changed into lanuginous efflorescences in 
taste exactly like alum: the remainder treated 
with fresh oil of vitriol in the same manner, ex- 



295 

hibits the same phenomena, and this repeatedly, 
till nearly the whole of the clay is converted in- 
to an astringent salt. 

If the earth be separated again from the acid, 
(by dissolving the salt in water, and precipita- 
ting with any alkaline salt) it is now found to 
dissolve with ease in every acid ; to form with 
the vitriolic alum again ; with the nitrous, a 
compound resembling alum in taste ; with the 
vegetable acids, a substance less astringent and 
less ungrateful. 



CHAPTER XL 



CHYMICAL HISTORY OF SAUNDERS, AND ITS 
DIFFERENCE FROM OTHER RED-WOODS. 

RED saunders is a hard, compact, ponder- 
ous wood, of a dark blackish red on the 
outside, and a light red colour within; of no 
particular smell or taste. It is brought from 
the Coromandel coast and from Golconda. Of 
the tree we have no certain account. Its prin- 
cipal use- is as a colouring drug. Those 
whose business it is to rasp and grind it into 
powder, probably employ certain saline or other 
additions to improve the colour ; whence the 
remarkable differences in the colour of powder- 
ed saunders prepared in different pla cs That 
of Strasburgh is of the deepest and liveliest red* 



296 

Some sorts are of a dead dark red, and some of 
a pale brick red ; some incline to purple or vi- 
olet, and some to brown. 

The colour of this wood resides wholly in its 
resin, and hence is extracted by rectified spirit, 
whilst water, though it takes up a portion of 
mucilaginous matter, gains no tinge, or only a 
slight yellowish one. From two ounces of the 
wood were obtained by spirit of wine three 
drachms and a half of resinous extract, and af- 
terwards by water, a scruple of mucilage. By 
applying water at first, I obtained from two 
ounces two drachms and six grains of a tough 
mucilaginous extract, which could not easily be 
reduced to dryness. The remainder still yield- 
ed, with spirit, two drachms of resin. The in- 
dissoluble matter weighed, in the first case, an 
ounce and a half and fifteen grains; in the lat- 
ter, nineteen grains less. Neither the distilled 
water nor spirit had any remarkable taste or 
smell. 

The red colour of saunders appears to be no 
other than a concentrated yellow, for by bare 
dilution it becomes yellow. A grain of the re* 
sinous extract, dissolved in an ounce of rectifi- 
ed spirit, tinges it red, but this solution, mixt 
with a quart of fresh spirit, gives only a yellow 
hue. Hoffman reports that this resin does not 
give a tincture to any kind of oil. I have tried 
five oils, those of amber, turpentine, almonds, 
anniseeds, and lavender. It gave no colour to 
the two first, but a deep red to the last, and a 
paler red to the other two. 



297 



CHAPTER XIL 



OF VERDIGRISE. 

IT may not be amiss to give the reader a 
chymical hint of verdigrise. 

Vegetable acids dissolve copper slowly, but 
in considerable quantity ; the solution shoots 
into bluish green chrystals, similar to the verdi- 
grise, arugo or viride aris, of the shops. This 
preparation is made in large quantities in 
France, particularly about Montpelier, by stra- 
tifying copperplates with the husks of grapes 
remaining after the juice has been prest out. 
These soon become acid, and corrode the 
copper. 

Verdigrise should be chosen in cakes, not 
moist or unctuous, but dry, compact, and of an 
uniform texture, of a lively green colour 
throughout, as free as possible from white and 
black specks, and seeds or stalks of the grape. 
It is purified by solution in distilled vinegar, 
and crystallization, and then called, improperly, 
distilled verdigrise or flowers of copper. The 
Dutch who prepare these crystals in large quan- 
tities, after duly evaporating the solution, set it 
to shoot, not, as is customary, in a cold but in a 
warm place, as practised in making sugar- 
candy. 



298 

If rectified spirit of wine be added to the so- 
lution, or if volatile alkalis be added to a solu- 
tion of copper and spirit of wine to this mixture, 
small blue crystals will be immediately formed. 
These are called by some antepileptic crystals of 
copper. 

Highly rectified spirit of wine, digested on 
half an ounce, or twelve scruples of powdered 
verdigrise, dissolved three scruples and a half; 
ordinary rectified spirit, four scruples 5 common 
malt spirits four and a half, and French brandy 
seven and a half. Water dissolved, out of the 
same quantity, five scruples. Common wine 
vinegar dissolved all but fifteen grains, and 
distilled vinegar all but ten grains. The 
whole quantity of verdigrise dissolved in either 
kind of vinegar, could not be recovered again 
in a crystalline form. 

From the common vinegar only two scruples 
and five grains crystallized, and from the distil- 
led vinegar three scruples. The residuum in 
the first case continued softish, in the latter dry. 
With French brandy there was no crystallization 
at all; the whole that the spirit had taken up 
remaining uniformly mixt into the consistence 
of an extract. 



A HINT 



TO THE 



Diers and Cloth-Makers, 



AND WELL WORTH THE NOTICE OF 



THE MERCHANT. 



BY JAMES HAIGH, 

LATE SILK AND MUSLIN-DIER, LEEDS. 



PREFACE. 



THE Author of the Dier's Assistant thinks it his duty? in 
gratitude to the professors in that noble art, to subscribe his 
hearty thanks for their approbation of and encouragement 
given to that work, in this and every part of England It is 
well known by that boJy of people, and felt to by some, that 
the price for dieing woollen goods hath been much reduced of 
late. Many circumstances having determined me, long since* 
to acquire all possible knowledge in the practice of dieing, I 
am therefore constrained once more to recommend a strict inqui- 
ry into the original quality of all the drugs they use, that 
thereby, if possible, they may discover some of the many bid- 
den advantages that may justly be expected therefrom. 

I am astonished that no artist has ever attempted to improve 
this most ingenious art on chymical principles. I begun the 
work in hopes that my master -piece would undertake to im- 
prove it 9 but in vain do I expect it. 

A WORD TO THE THINKING PART OF DIBRS. 

If you were sensible of the double advantage thai might be 
acquired in the use of many of your vegetable drugs, which 
must be firU grounded on chymical experiments in miniature \ 
which will be a certain rule to the practice at large, I am cer- 
tain you wGuld not rest till you had made some improvement. 

If after you have been dieing with that resinous drug, 
saunders, when emptying the vessel you take up a handful, dry 
it and digest it in a phial with some pure spirits of wine, and 
it will afford you an excellent red, water being insufficient to 
dissolve the resin, and let out the prime part of the colour* 
Many others may be discovered if an unwearied attention 
was paid. 

Cc 



302 PREFACE. 

Many will censure and Jespise this, for no other reason than 
because they cannot see into it ; nor will they be at any pains 
to learn and improve their talents* They seem rather to 
choose the old round, like a horse in a mill, having no spirit 
or courage to improve, hut content with each knowing the 
atber's method, without striving to excel, and discover more 
complete and less expensive ways of working, and using the 
drugs to the best advantage, 

I know not how men can sit still when there is more to learn. 
Let it not be said of you, as of one of old, " he lived and died 
and did nothing-" perhaps he worked with his hands, but 
his head was asleep-, and therefore he was an unprofitable 
servant, and when dead, his memory was no more. Sure it 
is, the invitation I have to write and publish this small pam- 
phlet is not so much to please others, or to shew any thing I 
have is capable of the name of parts, but to communicate my 
good wishes for improvement to my brethren the Diers, and to 
show them my willingness to help to perfect one of the most 
useful arts in the world, 

I shall leave all to itself, and to every man's just liberty to 
approve, or disapprove, as he pleases. And however it be, 
the author shall not be much troubled, for he is certain no 
man can have a lighter esteem for him, than he Las for him- 
self-, who, however, will be best pleased, if any man shall find 
benefit by what he has written. If any should alledge a gene- 
ral acceptation, that, to the author, will be no prevailing ar- 
gument ; for the multitude, though most in number, are the 
Worst and most partial judges He does not plead the impor- 
tunity of friends for the publication of this. If it is worthy y 
it needs no apology, if not, let it be despised ; and I remain 
the same friend to trade* 

JAMES HAIGH. 



A HINT TO THE DIERS, &e< 



BLACK being; a primitive colour, and one 
of the most difficult to perfect, deserves a 
few remarks. If I ask a Dier what ingredients 
compose a black, the answer will be this : Log- 
wood, shumac, bark, and copperas; and if he 
knows if, he will add a little ashes and argol in 
the last wet. If 1 ask him which of these drugs 
contain an acid, which an alkaline, and which 
a neutral quality, he cannot give me an answer s 
so you see he knows the effect, but a stranger 
to the cause, and every thing else separate from 
fact and custom. 

What a pity it is that men will* not search 
things to the bottom, when they might be able 
to find out the cause of miscarriages, for which' 
goods are frequently thrown aside to be died 
other colours, greatly to the Dier's loss. In 
conversing with a sensible Dier, I simply asked 
him, What part does logwood act in the black 
die ? the honest man as simply answered, " It 
helps to make it black." No other proof 



3°4 

was wanted to know that he also followed his 
forefathers in the old round. But the reader, 
by now, thinks it time to be informed of the 
business of logwood; which is (if used in a 
right proportion) to soften the goods, and give 
lustre to the colour. Logwood being possess- 
ed of a most excellent astringent quality, fixes 
itself in the pores of the goods, and gives them 
a velvet-like feel and gloss. 

Some will object to this assertion, and say, 
but our blacks have not that velvet-like feel 
and gloss. True, Sir, but don't you know the 
reason ? you die your blacks without scouring, 
forgetting, or not knowing, that when the 
goods enter the boiling die-liquor, they grow 
harsh, and the oil contained in them forms a 
sort of resin, which becomes as fixed as if it was 
Ditch or tar. This is one great cause why 
blacks are so liable to soil and dirty linen, be- 
cause the die is in some sense held in an out- 
side or superficial state. Think then, is it pos- 
sible these goods should finish soft like velvet, 
or shine like a raven's feather ? No, on the con- 
trary they spoil the press papers, and come out 
stiff and hard like buckram, (not velvet) and 
are ofterr three- parts perished in the finishing. 
No greater cause can be assigned for it than 
that of not scouring. This is the reason of the 
great difference, so much spoken of, between 
the London blacks and those died at Leeds. 
If the Leed's Diers would take the same pains 
as the Londoners do, I think they would exceJ 3 
in fact, if not in name, 



3°5 

The finishing shops in London are not more 
than half so well furnished with toois as those at 
Leeds are ; and therefore let the Leeds Diers be 
equally tight and clean Iw their performance,- 
and there is nothing to prevent their superiori- 
ty. But the master diers give a very reasonable 
answer to the foregoing, They say, the price is 
too low, and they cannot afford to take so much 
pains. What a pity that the merchants do not 
consider this! if three pence a piece was added 
to the price for dieing thin goods black, it 
would about pay for the scouring, and the 
goods would be finished witha brilliant lustre^ 
and yet soft like a russel. 

I should speak a little to the nature and bu- 
siness of the other drugs, which enter the com« 
position of black, had I not done it before, {see 
the article blacky Diers Assistant , p. 184.) 

I am astonished at the ignorance of the poor 
cloth- makers, many of whom have applied to 
me frequently for instructions ; one of them, on 
being asked what sort of ware, and how much 
he used to die such a colour, shewing him a pat- 
tern, he answered, When I have a pattern given 
me by a merchant, I goto the Salter, shew him 
the order, and he serves me with what is want- 
ed. I conversed with him some time, and 
would have instructed him, but alas ! he had 
left his capacity at home, and I might as well 
have read the newspaper to him. What a pity 
it is that so many hundreds of that noble branch 
of business work, as it were, blindfolded, and 
poverty bitten too, for want of instructions* 

Gc 2 



3o6 

which they have no spirit to seek ; who, when 
they bring a cloth to the market, are glad to sell 
it for Cue and sixpence, or two shillings in the 
pound profit, when they might as easily gain 
five or six shillings, if they knew how to use 
their drugs. But I despair of doing that for 
them, which nature has left undone ; for, with- 
out I could reach them to see with a dier*s eye, 
I might talk and write for ever in vain. 

But there is another class of cloth-makers, to 
whom I will give a useful hint, and have done. 

The article sky blue deserves our notice. 
This colour is often substituted, (even on fine 
cloth) by the Saxon blue, onaccountof its bril- 
liancy and fine lustre i but, like a fugitive, it 
only stays for a season. A little experience 
has taught me, that if a parcel of fine wool be 
well scoured, then sulphured or stoved, than 
which nothing can make it whiter, and then 
died in a weak vat, it will have all the beauty of 
the Saxon blue, without its imperfections. The 
vat used for this purpose should be set with a 
small quantity of indigo, on purpose for light 
shades, when the shades will be always brighter 
than when died in an old vat that has been weak- 
ened by dying dark colours. But the diers tell 
you that blues bear so low a price, and indigo 
is so dear, that they cannot afford to set fresh 
vats for light shades. Here is a sufficient 
cause, and one very great reason of retarding 
the perfection of many colours. If the^wool 
beforementioned should be obstructed in the 
milling, by means of the sulphur, (of which I 



3°7 

have not had experience) I would commend 
the dieing of the wool after scouring only, and 
stove it after it is milled, which 1 think will 
answer the same purpose ; and the beauty of 
the colour will amply pay for every superflu- 
ous work. 

I would recommend to the diers, after wash- 
ing the dark blues well at the river, to turn the 
cloth very quick through a warm vessel of wa- 
ter, in which has been dissolved a little alum, 
and they will see a surprising change in the 
lustre from that simple process. 

I am not willing to omit any thing worth no- 
tice in the course of my experiments. I will 
therefore, lightly touch the properties of com- 
mon water. By a great number of experiments, 
I am thoroughly convinced, that different waters 
with the same ingredients strike different co- 
lours. I find that the purest and lightest wai- 
ter strike the best light colours. 

All the die-houses at a distance from the ri- 
ver in London are furnished with wood cisterns 
which hold perhaps from one to two hundred 
hogsheads of water, which is supplied from the 
water works, and is always impure, and fre- 
quently muddy ; when on standing a conside- 
rable time, as is the case at some seasons of the 
year, it becomes putrid and emits a fetid 
smell i if suffered ta stand longer, it purifies it- 
self, and becomes sweet and clear, as well as 
considerably lighter. I have sometimes filled 
a. vessel when the water has been all of a fer- 
ment, and stunk almost beyond bearing, which 



3o$ 

at a boiling heat was no more felt; by adding 
a handful of common starch and a small bit of 
alum, all the filth is made to rise, and is taken 
off with a ladle for that purpose. The superior 
goodness of the water obliges us to ascribe an 
advantage to the London diers of light colours ; 
add to this their remarkable cleanliness. When 
a vessel is boiling they watch it carefully; and 
with a mop, kept for that purpose, they rub off 
the scum all round at the water's edge, so that 
the liquor is perfectly clear.. 

A short Remark on the Die of Brazil wo&di 
It is impossible to wear a red, a dove colour, 
a crimson, purple, light or deep violet, or any 
other colour, the produce of Brazil wood used 
recently many weeks, without fading, spotting, 
or soiling. If these colours were died in grain 
they would indeed cost something more, but you 
have then a colour which will continue beauti- 
ful as long as the stuff or cloth will last; and if 
spotted with dirt or grease, can easily be scour- 
ed and cleaned without danger of losing or inju- 
ring the colour, 

i boiled fifty pounds of Brazil chips one hour, 
in a copper of the hardest spring water I could 
find* and carefully took off the scum, turned 
this liquor over into a large tub, and re-heated 
the copper to boil the chips a second time, when 
the colour was all extracted. I then put both 
liquors together, and let it stand six months, 
when it was ropy and thick like oil. Nov/ 
having prepared a small piece of fine cloth in 



3°9 

alum and sour bran-water, and kept it moist 
five days unwashed out of the alum, I boiled 
one nut-gall and one quart of Brazil liquor 
ten minutes, then rinsed my piece of cloth, and 
died it a very beautiful marone. But the chief 
remark I intend to make here, is, that I hung 
this piece of cloth in the open air night and day 
during four severe winter months, and it had 
rather gained in beauty of colour, and was 
grown rather deeper. This is a sufficient proof 
that chymistry hath a power of securing the 
fine particles of those vegetables which are now 
called bastard drugs. Experiments (which 
are the best guides in natural philosophy, as 
well as in arts) plainly shew that a great advan- 
tage might arise in favour of the studious prac- 
titioner, who is not wearied if he miss his design 
after twenty or thirty trials, but still pursues 
his plan till he has hit it; for nothing of the 
kind seems to be impossible, 

A few Experimental Observations on the Die 
of Cochineal. 

After all the common processes of dieing 
with cochineal, there is found at the bottom of 
the vessel a deep brown sediment. This sedi- 
ment appears to consist of the impurities of the 
tartar, and the grosser parts of the powdered 
cochineal. This being lightly washed with 
clear cold water, dried and ground on a mar- 
ble, with one fourth its weight of fine tartar, 
into an impalpable powder, and then put into 
water with a little alum, a piece of white cloth 



3 id 

boiled in this liquor three quarters of an hour 
acquired a very beautiful crimson die. 

This experiment evinces, that, by reducing 
cochineal into a powder of moderate fineness as 
commonly practised, we do not gain all the ad- 
vantage which this valuable commodity is ca- 
pable of yielding. 

If the cochineal, wherv taken from the vessel, 
(after the scarlets are died ) is treated as above, 
the saving in the cochineal, whether for scarlet 
or crimson, will be about one-third. Though 
less tartar is usually employed in the die liquor, 
yet this quantity here directed does no harm ; 
it appeared on trial that the colour was rather 
the more solid for it. All urinous and alkaline 
liquors or substances stain scarlet of a crimson, 
by destroying the effect of the acid; Hence, in- 
pure country air, scarlet retains its lustre much 
longer than in cities and towns, where alkaline 
and urinous vapours are more abundant. The 
dirt of roads and sundry substances of the acrid 
kind, leave no stain on scarlet, if the part be 
washed immediately in pure water, and wrung 
in a clean linen cloth. If the dirt is suffered to 
dry, a blackish violet spot will remain, which can : 
only be discharged by mild vegetable acids, as 
vinegar^ citron juice, a warm dilute solution of 
cream of tartar, or sour bran-water; if these 
acids, however, be not applied with a good deal 
of address, whilst they take out the blackish 
stain they leave a yellow one, by dissolving the 
colouring particles of the cochineal itself. 



3 rx 

After at least a thousand experiments, I am 
obliged to conclude, that the dieing of wool is 
the most extensive branch of this art, it may be 
considered as its basis; but the dieing of silk, 
thread, and cotton, deserves also our attention. 

The great difference between those substan- 
ces, and that of wool, is well known to the ca- 
lico printers, whose grand care it is to find 
means of making linen receive the same dies as 
wool does. The physical cause of the differ- 
ence seems yet unknown ; and indeed, a& be^ 
fore observed of dies in general, we know as yet 
very little. Are animal filaments tubular, and 
the colouring atoms received within them ? are 
vegetable filaments solid, and the colour depo- 
sited on the surface ? or, does not their different 
susceptibility of colour depend rather on the 
different intrinsic properties of the two? An an- 
swer to this would doubtless prove of great 
utility. 

I should be happy to find some artist under- 
take to improve what I have in a poor way be- 
gun. I long to see the art in perfection, one 
half of which is yet in oblivion. 

The reader may be assured, that what is here 
recited is purely the result of the author's own 
experience, (not theory) and part of the effects 
of many years' study. 



THE END, 



